Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope
Carol
Jerrems – Portraits I Carol Jerrems
National
Portrait Gallery I 30 November 2024 - 2 March 2025
Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of images by one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers have shaped Australian visual culture. Against the backdrop of social change in the 1970s, her practice charted the women’s movement, documented First Nations activism, put a spotlight on youth subcultures and explored the music and arts scenes of the era.
What were you doing in the ‘70s? Some visitors to this exhibition will not have been born then. Others spent those years “wasting their youth”. My wife and I were raising two young children. Some are well past the age that Jerrems was when she was documenting the ‘70s.
Her career spanned only twelve years before a tragic death at the age of 30. Jerrems captured the world around her with curiosity and courage. She photographed her world - a voracious observer yet also intentional in her approach to narrative and composition. Her images play with tension and dramatic impact. They are candid but at times purposefully theatrical, tough and yet vulnerable, revealing both melancholy and joy.
The exhibition showcases 144 photographs Is that a little overwhelming. And why are they all displayed before wide strips of pink paint? Regardless, this show should be seen. It traverses the journey from Jerrems’ lesser-known early work to her iconic Vale Street 1975 and coincides with the 50th anniversary of her landmark publication A book about Australian women. Featuring portraits of cultural figures like Anne Summers, Bobbi Sykes, Evonne Goolagong and Linda Jackson the exhibition examines how the author’s work defined a decade and continues to shape our views of photography today.
But there’s no need to write about her best-known works here. Instead, I want to mention some less-known images. Firstly, Marilyn Monroe, the only portrait of a non-Australian. Is it really a portrait or rather part of a non-descript building on which hangs a framed Richard Avedon print of Monroe?
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Carol Jerrems - Marilyn Monroe 1972 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
Then there is Empty Corridor, which is not quite that. There are small silhouettes of unknown people at the corridor’s far end in this most interesting image.
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Carol Jerrems - Empty corridor 1979 National Library of Australia Manuscript collection (MS 10718) © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
Much more significant is the inclusion of contact sheets providing valuable insights into the artist’s ways of working. Some show empty frames where images have been cut from the negative strips. Jerrems was very interested in the sequential nature of photography and often created contact sheets using strips of images taken on different film rolls, then exhibited those sheets as artworks alongside individual image prints.
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Carol Jerrems - Contact sheet (Linda Piper) 1974 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
Jerrems made her name during a time of significant social change. She explored activism by First Nations people, the women's movement, youth subcultures, other artists and musicians. Many of the latter were household names and those who were then young adult Australians will be reminded of times in their lives. There are images of loved actresses Enid Lorimer and Kate Fitzpatrick, of a pioneer of modernist painting in Australia, Grace Cossington Smith, of Aboriginal people including Rosslyn Johnson and David Gulpilil (with a bucket), of youths who became known as Sharpies, and of young friends simply enjoying each other’s company when school was out.
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Carol Jerrems - Enid Lorimer and Kate Fitzpatrick 1974 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
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Carol Jerrems - Rosslyn Johnson 1973 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
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Carol Jerrems - Edols seeing Gulpilil with a bucket 1974 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
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Carol Jerrems - Sharpie couple, Melbourne 1976 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
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Carol Jerrems - School's out 1975 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
One image stands out for a number of reasons. Mirror with a memory: Motel room is the only colour image in the exhibition. Along with a shot of Grace Cossington-Smith, it is an example of the artist’s effective use of mirrors. And it is a revealing self-portrait of her and her lifestyle.
Carol Jerrems - Mirror with a memory: Motel room 1977
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981
© The Estate of Carol Jerrems
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Carol Jerrems - Grace Cossington Smith, OBE 1974 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981 © The Estate of Carol Jerrems |
The exhibition's last section is a collection of works that Jerrems photographed in hospital whilst battling the rare liver disease which led to her premature death.
This review is also available on the author's blog here.
An abbreviated version has been published online by Canberra City News here.
