I'd seen an exhibition of photos of Carol Jerrems a few years back at the National Gallery. This one at the National Portrait Gallery was bigger. I noticed works from on loan from the National Gallery, the National Library, presumably the NPG, perhaps more, and there were scenes, collections, images I hadn't seen before. She's the creator of the iconic Vale Street 1975 with a bare-chested highlighted woman with two males scowling behind, and similarly famous pics of actors and political activists and musos (Anne Summers, Bobbi Sykes, Evonne Goolagong, Skyhooks, Kate Grenville, Kath Walker, Wendy Saddingon...) and just of a string of people and sub-cultures around her in Melbourne and later Sydney through the 1970s. I know the period well and enjoy a revisit although it seems another world now: post-'60s and subject to considerable denigration then and now. I also love to view her photography, for the natural lighting, the contrasted shadows, the central highlighting of a face of body, the awareness of background and shape and geometry. Also the techniques of B+W film photography of the time, the shades of grey, the very rare true black, the visible grain and occasional movement of slower exposures, the monochrome nature of all her pics. Wikipedia advises "she always used a 35mm Pentax Spotmatic single-lens reflex camera with a standard f1.4 50mm lens, eschewing wide or telephoto lenses, and used black and white film, usually Kodak Tri-X" (400ASA and stock standard). Every pic in the collection is monochrome, but one is washed in a warm sandy colour. It was of CJ naked with camera in a mirror with her lover on the phone in the foreground and described in a related label as post-coital. The colour was apt and the presence was quite lovely but unique. She features herself in some pics, but the whole involves her as the medium. And the final series confirms her commitment, documenting her time in hospital with a liver disease before an early death aged 31. It's a loss, but she leaves a treasury of the time. Intriguing and alt-historical if not always hugely enjoyable.
Carol Jerrems : Portraits is on display at the National Portrait Gallery until 2 March. Just one pic by me given copyright but plenty of pics to view at NPG.
