There are many faces to Arts House, and their number just got bigger.

Photographic artist Jody Haines’ social portrait project #IAMWOMAN is a wide-ranging exploration of female representation: in a series of intimate one-on-one sessions Haines, together with her participants, has sought to question personal and social definitions of what it means to ‘be a woman’ and trace through her lens the vast variety of answers. The result is a public exhibition of large-scale portraits in, on and around Arts House that pay tribute to women in all their strength, beauty and complexity.

Photography is often seen as a transparent medium, but is in reality a loaded weapon. The history of female representation by the camera is one of sexualisation, infantilisation, ridicule or disregard, but in the hands of Jody Haines and the woman involved, an alternative comes into view. Applying an Indigenous and feminist filter to her work, her careful eye subtly remodels our relationship with the subjects, who stand at equal eye height, afforded direct gaze and given a dominant position within the frame.

#IAMWOMAN is part of an ongoing research project testing and examining new approaches to creating photographic portraiture with women for use in public space. Come and see the results of this compelling and timely vision for change.

Portrait map (marked with a green dot):

521 Queensberry Street (Arts House windows) features four portraits and there are two portraits inside (these two are only on view when the building is open, Mon-Fri 9am-5pm)

72 – 82 Errol Street (North Melbourne Post Office window) features one portrait

66 Errol Street (North Melbourne Library window) features two portraits

George Johnson Lane (between North Melbourne Post Office and North Melbourne Library) features three portraits

58 Errol Street (The Centre window) features one portrait

54 Errol Street (vacant shop window) features two portraits.