14 May to 31 July 2021
The Perth Centre for Photography in partnership with CAN, and the State Library of WA are proud to present a unique collection of Aboriginal photographs taken by one of Australia’s earliest photographers – the Mavis Phillips (nee Walley) Collection. This exhibition opens Friday 14 May, 5:45 pm for 6 pm start. Please RSVP here.
Mavis Phillips (nee Walley) is one of Australia’s earliest known Indigenous photographers. Through her box brownie camera Mavis captured the everyday moments of her community in Goomalling, Western Australia from the 1930s.
Her photographs capture joy, spontaneity, pride and hope from the thriving wheatbelt Aboriginal community. The photos are extremely rare in that they capture daily life from a Noongar perspective.
In 2015 Mavis’ daughter Dallas Phillips brought a collection of old negatives stored in a chocolate tin to a photo sharing session run by Community Arts Network. The photos were taken by her late mother and bequeathed to Dallas. She was unaware of their historical and cultural value until they were viewed by State Library staff. More than 360 of these images have now been digitised and stored on the State Library’s Storylines database.
Dallas Phillip’s always wanted to see her mother’s photos in a professional exhibition. Now, thanks to a partnership between the Perth Centre for Photography, Community Arts Network and the State Library of Western Australia, a selection of images, curated by Dallas Phillips herself, will be featured at the Perth Centre for Photography, with a satellite exhibits, projections and screenings around Perth, including a smaller selection in the Nook at the State Library.
Exhibition opens: 14 May Perth Centre for Photography – King Street Art Centre, Murray Street Perth. Exhibition continues Sat 15th May – Sat 31 July
The Nook at the State Library will show a smaller selection of images from May 21 – Sunday 25 July.
PCP would like to thank Michael and Annelies Lundberg for their kind support.
‘We were not natives in the way they thought we were’, says Dallas Phillips, who is talking to me about her mother, Mavis Phillips née Walley’s collection of photographs. ‘Of course, we were native to the land,’ she continues. But we were modern, is the implication. She tells me about how splendidly her mother dressed, of how she got ‘dolled up’ whenever they went into town. Dallas directs my attention to the meticulous way she and her siblings are dressed in the photograph amidst the dandelion. To gaze at this picture is to open one’s eyes to a world rich in spontaneity and innocence. The beauty of the children, the thriving dandelion, the confident framing of the moment, are all indubitable. What else does Dallas see in this photo? ‘It shows how well Mum cared for and provided for us; how well we were sheltered and loved.
