There was a lot to protest about in 1970’s Australia: the Vietnam War, nuclear energy, environmental destruction, and the role of women in society, to name a few. Adelaide was also facing industrial unrest in the car manufacturing industry, and standing alongside the local workers demanding better working conditions were a group of outspoken artists who officially banded together in 1974 and declared themselves the Progressive Art Movement (PAM).
50 years on, Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) is showcasing some of the iconic prints and posters to come out of that movement in If you don’t fight … you lose: politics, posters and PAM. Founded by Brian Medlin and Ann Newmarch, PAM consisted of artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, actors and musicians who sought to cultivate a politically progressive culture in South Australia. The exhibition features the work of some of these activists, including Ann Newmarch, Mandy Martin, Robert Boynes and many others.
“We look forward to presenting this significant and timely exhibition,” says FUMA Director Fiona Salmon. “Beyond the long-overdue acknowledgement of PAM, it celebrates the enduring power of political printmaking and is poised to spark discussions at the nexus of activism, art and politics in the 21st century”.
View, in pictures, the art of protest.
Mandy Martin, Adelaide Railway Station 2 (detail), 1973, screenprint, ink on paper, 50.0 x 73.7 cm (image) 55.9
x 75.9 cm (sheet), Ann Newmarch Collection, © the Estate of the artist
Andrew Hill, Management deliberately employ women, 1984, screenprint, ink on paper, 49.8 x 74.5 cm (image), 56.0 x 76.0 cm (sheet), Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 2880.055
Mandy Martin, Australian Independence, 1974 screenprint, ink on paper, 55.9 x 76.0 cm, Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5053, © the Estate of the artist
Robert Boynes, Morals of money, 1974, screenprint, ink on paper, edition 2/10, 56.4 x 50.3 cm (image), 76.7 x 64.2 cm (sheet). Gift of Daniel Brine, Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 4660
Jim Cane, Vote communist, c. 1970s, screenprint, ink on paper, 66.5 x 44.0 cm (image), 70.8 x 50.9 cm (sheet), Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 2879.024.
Pamela Harris, Women (Lesbian mothers are everywhere) 1984, screenprint, ink on paper, edition 5/10, 48 x 60.9 cm (image), 57.4 x 76.4 cm (sheet), Gift of the Australian Experimental Art Foundation, Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 2880.050.
Ann Newmarch, We must risk unlearning, 1975, screenprint, ink on paper, edition 28/40, 71.2 x 55.5 cm (image), 81.4 x 66.0 cm (sheet), Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5023.
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