Petticoat Pioneer

Petticoat Pioneer
mixed media

History has been dominated by male perspectives. An alternative reading could be told from female stories.

My inspiration for this work resulted from a visit to the local historical society and museum in Denmark. Early Australian settler women laboured under a harsh physical environment that was exacerbated by restrictive social expectations. Their journals provide glimpses of the difficult time consuming and back breaking domestic drudgery they faced on a daily basis. Most women bore a child every 2 years, they often lost several infants to disease and the harsh environment.

It is their story that informs my work.

Photo: ACE Camera Club Albany