Robyn Lees

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