Sue Ford facts for kids

Susanne Helene Ford (born March 19, 1943 – died November 6, 2009) was an Australian photographer. She started taking photos in the 1960s. Sue Ford was the first Australian photographer to have her own show at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1974. This exhibition was called Time Series. She also published a book of photos of women called 'A Sixtieth of a Second' in 1987. Her amazing photos were shown again at the National Gallery of Victoria in 2014.

About Sue Ford's Life

Sue Ford was born Susanne Helene Winslow on March 19, 1943, in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. She was an Australian photographer who often focused on women's issues.

Exploring Australia and Art

Sue was very interested in Indigenous topics. She traveled widely and took many photos in remote parts of Central Australia. In 1988, she went to Bathurst Island to teach photography workshops to Tiwi women. She also photographed events related to the bicentenary of Australia.

Between 1990 and 1992, Sue changed her photography style. She started making collage images. Each collage was made of many smaller sections, which were then printed large to create big grid pictures. She also created ink and watercolour paintings. These paintings showed her feelings about the Cook Islands, Bathurst Island, and the deserts in the Northern Territory.

In 1991, Sue bought a house in Balaclava, Melbourne. She lived there until she passed away in 2009. She made a second trip to Bathurst Island that same year to work with the Tiwi women again. Sue Ford died at her home on November 6, 2009, surrounded by her family and friends.

Her Last Work

In 2010, the Sue Ford archive was created to keep her work safe. In 2011, her last major project, Self Portrait with a Camera, was shown at the Monash Gallery of Art in Melbourne. This project combined her earliest photos with her most recent ones. It showed how she saw time and herself through her camera.

Starting Her Photography Journey

Sue Ford's earliest photos are from when she first learned about cameras. She got her first camera in her late teens for a family trip to Europe. When she came back in 1961, she found a job as a delivery girl for Sutcliffe photographers in Melbourne. She also worked as a darkroom assistant.

In 1962, she started a photography course at RMIT. She was one of only two girls in a class of thirty students. Sue finished only the first year of the three-year course. After that, she rented a studio in Little Collins Street, Melbourne with her friend Annette Stephens.

Creative Experiments

Sue also took many photos of her children. She experimented with ideas for children's books, combining images and text in fun stories. In the late 1960s, Sue created several artworks using simple montages, photograms, and layered negatives. She spent many hours experimenting in the darkroom.

Her photo collage Man off the moon, made around 1969, questioned the first moonwalk by NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Sue used images from a television screen. She placed her hand into the scene, making it look like she was controlling the astronauts. This showed her own presence and made people think about the Americans' goals on the moon.

Family and Creative Life

Sue Ford lived in Dunmoochin, Cottlesbridge, for a short time. Then she moved to Laughing Waters Road, Eltham, with her partner Gordon Ford. Their first home was destroyed by a bushfire. They then moved to Pitt Street in Eltham and built a mud brick studio. This studio included a darkroom. They also ran a short-lived child portrait business while working for Eltham Film Productions.

In 1967, her daughter Emma Ford was born. Her son Ben Ford was born in 1968. In 1970, Gordon built a new mud brick house for the family at Laughing Waters Road. They moved into this new house in 1972. In 1975, Sue moved to Sydney but traveled back to Melbourne often. In 1980, they returned to North Carlton, Melbourne.

Working with Other Artists

Around this time, Sue was a founding member of Reel Women, a group of filmmakers who focused on women's issues. She was also part of other similar film groups during her career. These included the Feminist Film Workers collective (in the 1970s and 1980s) and the Women’s Film Unit in 1985.

Her Artistic Journey

In 1982, Sue had an accident that affected her ability to photograph for a while. Because of this, she started painting. She lived in Williamstown from 1983 to 1985. Every winter, Sue traveled to Byron Bay, NSW. There, she made many friends and worked on art projects.

Sue often turned her camera on herself, her family, and friends. She used her art to explore social and political ideas. She experimented with many different art forms. These included photography, film, video, painting, drawing, and printing. From the very beginning, she was interested in how images represent people and ideas. She also studied at the Victorian College of Arts (VCA) from 1973 to 1974. In 1974, the National Gallery of Victoria's show of her Time Series was the first solo exhibition by an Australian photographer.

Education and Career Highlights

Sue Ford was one of two female students to start photographic studies at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1960. In 1962, she ran a photography studio with her friend Annette Stephens. In 1973, she won an Ilford Scholarship. This allowed her to attend the Victorian College of the Arts for postgraduate study from 1973 to 1974 in Melbourne.

You can find information about Sue Ford's work at the Women's Art Register.

Exhibitions and Shows

Sue Ford's work was shown in many exhibitions. Here are some of them:

2004 Exhibitions

• Solo Shows
  • Watter's Gallery, Sydney.
• Group Shows
  • NGV, Melbourne.
  • National Library of Australia, Canberra.

2003 Exhibitions

• Solo Shows
  • ARC ONE-Span, Melbourne.
• Group Shows
  • NGV, Melbourne.
  • Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne.

2002 Exhibitions

• Solo Shows
  • ARC ONE-Span, Melbourne.
• Group Shows
  • Fieldwork: Australia Art 1968–2002, NGV, Melbourne.
  • Berlin Film Festival, Germany.

2000 Exhibitions

• Group Shows
  • National Portrait Gallery, Canberra.
  • Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney.
  • Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Melbourne.

1999 Exhibitions

• Group Shows
  • Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.
  • Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne.
• Solo Shows
• Somewhere in France 1917

Watter's Gallery, Sydney;

Parliament House, Canberra.

1998 Exhibitions

• Group Shows
  • National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
  • Monash University Gallery of Art, Melbourne.
• Solo Shows
  • Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

1997 Exhibitions

• Solo Show
  • Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney.

1995 Exhibitions

• Solo Shows
  • Watter's Gallery Sydney.
  • Monash University Gallery, Melbourne.
• Group Shows
  • Watter's Gallery, Sydney.
  • National Gallery of Australia, Canberra.
  • Museum of the Northern Territory, Darwin.
  • Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

1994 Exhibitions

• Solo Show – Time Surfaces – Colour Laser Prints by Sue Ford – National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
• Group Show
  • Pictograms: Aspects of Contemporary Photographic Practice

Touring Exhibition throughout Australia.

1993 Exhibitions

• Group Show
  • From the Empire's End: Nine Australian and Spanish Photographers, Bathurst Regional Gallery.

1972 Exhibitions

• Film Woman in a House (1972).
• Van Diemans Land to Video Land – An Exhibition of Colour Lazer Prints, and Paintings by Sue Ford.

1971 Exhibitions

• Solo Show – Metamorphoses Series, Hawthorn City Art Gallery, Yellow House, Sydney.

1969 Exhibitions

• Suburban Series of collaged photographs.