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mane djang karirra

CURRENT EXHIBITION

If you don’t fight … you lose: politics, posters and PAM

6 May — 5 July 2024

More information 

Artists 

Exhibition guide

Media Release

Related events 

Exhibition catalogue 

FUMA Gallery I Social Sciences North Building I Bedford Park    

Image: 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

EXHIBITIONS

If you don’t fight … you lose: politics, posters and PAM

6 May — 5 July 2024

Flinders University Museum of Art
Flinders University I Sturt Road I  Bedford Park SA 5042

Located ground floor Social Sciences North building, Humanities Road adjacent carpark 5

Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm
Thursday until 7pm  
Closed weekends and public holidays

FREE ENTRY

The graphic art of protest, propaganda and politics took hold in Australia in the 1970s. Characterised by bold imagery, provocative slogans and vivid symbolism, this ‘alternative’ form of printmaking played a crucial role in protests, rallies and grassroots activism, amplifying the concerns of the nation’s counterculture.

If you don’t fight … you lose revisits this era, featuring the prints and posters of the Progressive Art Movement (PAM), a small, dedicated and hard-hitting multi-arts organisation active in Tarntanya/Adelaide 1974–78.

PAM formed as an offshoot of the Art and Politics course taught at Flinders University by Brian Medlin, the radical professor of Philosophy who had been arrested at a Vietnam Moratorium march, and Ann Newmarch, a high-profile feminist artist and Art School lecturer. The group united artists, writers, poets, filmmakers, actors and musicians with the aim of forging a politically progressive culture rooted in local conditions and opposing US imperialism.

Flinders University was itself a hotbed of activism at this time with students infamously staging a month-long occupation of the Registry Building the year of PAM’s inception. Meanwhile, industrial unrest at the nearby Chrysler factory flowed over to students in the Worker-Student Alliance, who handed out leaflets at the factory gates in support of blue collar workers demanding better working conditions.

Reimagining the role and purpose of their work, PAM artists including Ann Newmarch, Mandy Martin, Robert Boynes, Andrew Hill, Pamela Harris, Peter Mumford, Christine McCarthy, Robin Best and Jim Cane joined the ranks of political protestors. They lived their activism by demonstrating about art, working as artists on the factory floor, creating posters for political causes and, on occasion, working as a collective in the Progressive Printers Alliance.

Works in the exhibition are primarily drawn from the FUMA collections. They are organised thematically, while the overarching title references a Redgum song and pays homage to PAM’s only exhibition held in 1977. From the vantage point of 2024, we reflect on the power of these works to challenge the status quo, mobilise communities and disseminate messages of resistance and solidarity. Moreover, we recognise the enduring relevance of their themes and issues as we navigate gender, climate and social justice challenges amidst shifting power dynamics and a rapidly changing world order in the 21st century.

Artists

Progressive Art Movement artists featured in the exhibition 

Robin Best (1953–), Perth born, took the Politics and Art course and was a PAM member while a Design Ceramics student at the South Australian School of Art, 1973–1976. Post-PAM she produced light-hearted work with Australian content, was at the Meat Market Craft Centre making socially critical work (1981–1985), was instrumental in establishing a pottery workshop at Ernabella in 1997, and was Creative Director of the Ceramics Studio at the JamFactory (2008–2010). Best spent nine years at Jingdezhen, China, (2010–2019) and is known internationally for her porcelain work exploring the history of European trade and scientific discoveries in Asia, especially China, and its ensuing cross-cultural imagery.

Pamela Harris (1946–1992), born in Broken Hill, attended the South Australian School of Art, and enrolled in the Politics and Art course, co-producing work with Christine McCarthy. Harris gained her Diploma in Fine Arts in 1977, her Post-graduate Diploma in Printmaking in 1981, and had enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts (Tasmania) before her untimely death.  Harris was a printmaker, a performance artist, worked with video, made trade union banners for the Art and Working Life program, and was a member of Community Media Association's poster collective (1975–1980).  Her work is held in major public and regional collections.

Mandy Martin (1952–2021), Adelaide born, took the Politics and Art course and was a PAM member while a student at the South Australian School of Art. She established an early reputation for feminist and socially critical work. Martin was a lecturer at the School of Art, ANU, 1978–2003, and a mentor for students who established the Magalo Print Workshop. Post PAM, her work focused on European and industrial colonisation of the Australian landscape, frequently through an environmental lens. Her numerous commissions include ‘Red Ochre Cove’ for the Senate Committee Room of the New Parliament House in 1988. Her work is held in major public collections. 

Robert Boynes (1942–), Adelaide born, was a lecturer in art at Murray Park CAE and the South Australian School of Art (1964–1967; 1970–1977), and postgraduate student in film at Flinders University when he joined PAM. His paintings and prints produced at the time were critical of capitalism and patriarchal society.  Post PAM he was lecturer then Head of Painting at the School of Art, ANU (1978–2005). He is a senior artist with an active exhibiting profile, his work critiquing contemporary society is widely held in public and private collections.   

Andrew Hill AM (1952–) is an Adelaide-born artist and lecturer at the South Australian School of Art / Salisbury CAE, 1981–2014, and PAM member. Post PAM, Hill focused on community art, and the art and working life program in the Trade Union movement and the Multicultural Artworkers Committee.  Key multicultural exhibitions coordinated include Land of Promises (1982–1983), All our Working Lives (1983–1984) and A Bitter Song (1986–1988). Hill’s work is held in major national collections. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 2016 for services to education as an artist, to multiculturalism, and for innovative programs for young refugees.

Peter Mumford (1952–), Southampton (UK) born, was a PAM member while an Arts student at Flinders University. He was active in the Worker Student Alliance’s Trade Union protests. He worked with Pamela Harris in the Progressive Printers Alliance and in the Community Media Association running the printing unit and producing posters for a range of clients including the Rape Crisis Centre. Post PAM he moved into graphic design and stage design for Australian dance, theatre and opera companies.

Jim Cane (1944–), Adelaide born, attended the University of Adelaide (1964), the South Australian School of Art (1964–67), and the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata (Calcutta) (1968). He was active in Adelaide’s Vietnam moratorium movement and radical circles, took the Politics and Art course, and was a PAM member. He produced cartoons for publications including Get Out magazine, and posters for a range of causes working with Empire Times printer Andrew McHugh. Post PAM he illustrated A Different Vison: A Real History of South Australia with Russell Porter (1980), and he wrote and illustrated a post-colonial history Australia: Lucky for Some (1986).   

Christine McCarthy (1952–), Adelaide born, attended the South Australian School of Art, studied printmaking with Barbara Hanrahan and enrolled in the Politics and Art course. She gained her Diploma in Fine Arts in 1976. She is known for her hand-coloured lino-cut prints of landscapes and native flora, highlighting the unique South Australian coastal vegetation.  McCarthy has exhibited regularly over the past three decades in Adelaide, interstate and internationally.  Her work has been acquired by private collectors and government institutions.  She is a former co-proprietor and co-director of The Ruth Tuck Art School. 

Ann Newmarch OAM (1945–2022), was an Adelaide-born feminist artist and lecturer at the South Australian School of Art  from 1968 to 2000. She co-founded, with Philosophy Professor Brian Medlin, the Politics and Art course at Flinders University in 1974, and Progressive Art Movement in the same year. Newmarch was a founding member of Adelaide’s Women’s Art Movement in 1976. She was an activist socio-political feminist artist focused on community art, and was a founding member of the Prospect Mural Group. Her work is held in major public collections. She was awarded an Order of Australia in 1986 for services to art.

Related events

Other programs and exhibitions you may also be interested in. 

OPENING EVENT

Exhibition launch & curator floortalk

Join us for the exhibition launch of If you don't fight ... you lose: politics, posters and PAM

Thursday 16 May 2024
5 — 7 pm

RSVP

TALKS & TOURS

In Conversation with Andrew Hill & Josh Searson 

Explore the processes and political potential of screen-printing with the experts.

Thursday 20 June 2024
5:30 — 7 pm

RSVP

TALKS & TOURS

Exhibition floortalks

Join FUMA Director, Fiona Salmon for an introduction to the exhibition If you don't fight ... you lose: politics, posters and PAM

12:30pm Tues 21 May

12:30pm Tues 18 June

TALKS & TOURS

Alumni & friends exhibition tour and lunch event

Join FUMA for an exhibition tour and lunch event

Friday 28 June 2024
10:30am — 2:30 pm

RSVP

ART WORKSHOP

Open Art Studio: Wear it Proud

Let your voice be heard in this fun badge making art workshop outside Flinders Tavern.

11am - 2pm Wed 15 May

11am - 2pm Wed 5 June

TALKS & TOURS

Book launch

Join FUMA for an evening of ideas and community as we launch two local publications on art and politics.

Tuesday 2 July 2024
5:30 — 7 pm

RSVP

Exhibition catalogue

_FINAL catalogue PAM_cover-sml.jpg

Accompanying the exhibition If you don’t fight … you lose: politics, posters and PAM, this publication offers insight to the Progressive Art Movement (PAM), an influential multi-arts organisation active in Tarntanya/Adelaide from 1974 to 1978. It features striking photographs of the powerful posters and prints by artists such as Ann Newmarch, Mandy Martin, and Robert Boynes, highlighting PAM’s central themes of community action and solidarity. Essays by the curators Catherine Speck and Jude Adams, along with contributions from Julie Ewington and Suzanne Close, celebrate PAM’s legacy and the enduring power of political printmaking.

 

2024, Published by Wakefield Press, 104 pages, softcover
ISBN: 9781923042544
AUD $39.95

To purchase, please visit or contact FUMA museum@flinders.edu.au or 82012695 

Cover graphic derived from: Mandy Martin, Adelaide railway station 2 , 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. Photograph Grant Hancock, Designer: Rachel Harris, Bit Scribbly Design, Printer Finsbury Green

final-PAM-Logo-Black.jpg

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Flinders University Museum of Art
Flinders University I Sturt Road I Bedford Park SA 5042

Located ground floor Social Sciences North building, Humanities Road adjacent carpark 5

Telephone | +61 (08) 8201 2695
Email | museum@flinders.edu.au

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