FREMANTLE ARTS CENTRE 1 Finnerty Street Fremantle Western Australia PO Box 891 Fremantle WA 6959 WA 6959 Fremantle Australie
FotoFreo PO Box 681, Fremantle Western 6959 Australie
Southern Africa: A portrait in black and white' by Joy Harwood-Cooke. Joy studied photography in South Africa under John Everand then in London at the Regent Street Polytechnic. Here she served an apprenticeship under Angus McBean and Marcus Adams, the Royal Family photographer, in the early 1950s. After returning to South Africa in 1953 Joy photographed for TIME and LIFE which included covering the Royal Tour of Rhodesia. This magazine work was in conjunction with commercial contracts with leading South African companies and the Tourist Commission. The South African Department of Information approached Joy to produce a collection of photographs to tour New Zealand and Australia as a good will tour.
There were adverse feelings towards South Africa at this time and the intention was to use the exhibition as a softener to public opinion. The exhibition moved from Sydney to Perth in 1957 where it was displayed at David Jones. The work moves through sensitive portraits of children (in the vein of Marcus Adams), majestic scenery, a thriving mining industry to the strongest work, Joy's documentation of the African people. In 1956 Joy stated "I travelled from Kenya to Capetown taking photographs to depict typical African scenes and landscapes and now I want to show the real Africa to the people of New Zealand and Australia" (Daily Telegraph, Sydney 1956). Joy married a West Australian sheep breeder and broad acre farmer from Tammin who she met on the Dominion Monarch as it sailed en route from South Africa to New Zealand and Australia. Joy continued to photograph in the 60s. In the 70s and 80s she became involved in Australian community affairs at a high level and in 1983 was the commercial manager of the Commercial National Gallery for 2.5 years in Canberra. She leads a rich and creative life. FotoFreo 2010 will present a selection of orignial prints from the 1957 exhibitions.