Carol Jerrems: Portraits

Carol Jerrems: Portraits is the first monograph on this highly influential photographer, whose body of work is a defining artistic achievement of the late 20th century. During her condensed career, from 1968 until her premature death in 1980, Jerrems took intimate portraits set against the backdrop of the social change of the 1970s, charting feminism, First Nations activism, youth subcultures, and the music, film and arts scenes of the period. Jerrems' work, and legacy, not only defined an era but continues to shape how we think about photography.

Published in association with the exhibition Carol Jerrems: Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in 2024, this major publication draws attention to the specific nature of portraiture in Jerrems' practice. Offering a fresh perspective on Jerrems' life and work, the book features essays and creative responses by curators, poets and writers including Elena Gomez, Rebecca Harkins-Cross, Magdalene Keaney, Shaune Lakin and Anne O'Hehir, Celeste Liddle, Pippa Milne and Isobel Parker Philip.

These essays are accompanied by high-quality reproductions of 130 vintage prints, from early work made at art school that illustrates her interest in people and the portrait genre, to many of her best-known works including Vale Street (1975). It also celebrates Jerrems' extraordinary portraits of women made for the groundbreaking A book about Australian women (1974) on the 50th anniversary of its publication, and marks the 40 years since the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act (1984).