Jody Haines. Artist & Curator Statement.
I'm a storyteller. A social activist. A feminist. I visually forge a new collection of women’s images that place women first. Photography, light and video are my tools. My practice, I make honest portraits with women – and that’s my greatest privilege. Applying a collaborative and relational act to making, I use photography to inspire people to see themselves and for other people to meet them eye-to-eye. Both art and activism is my calling, I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to connect with people, deeply and daily, for a living. I’m Jody; I’m a photo media artist - I chip away daily at the fabric of our social bias, one photo at a time.
Jody practices from River Studios, Creative Spaces, Melbourne. Creative Spaces is a program of the City of Melbourne Creative City branch.
https://www.creativespaces.net.au/
Biography
Jody Haines is a photo-media artist based in Melbourne, Victoria.
By approaching photography as a social practice, Jody collaboratively focuses on identity, representation and the female gaze, presenting work as temporary installations across public and non-traditional spaces.
Applying her social practice approach, Jody has been commissioned to collaborate with local communities, producing work across many festivals and programs within Australia. Including Women Dreaming Project (Women of the World 2018), Our people Our place (Horizons Festival 2019), and #IAMWOMAN an ongoing relational photographic series (including Arts House 2019, Immerse Public Art Festival 2018 and One Night in Footscray 2018). In 2018, Jody was engaged by Wyndham City Council on two projects supported by Creative Victoria - Flipping the Script and Place Patterns. As a mentor and lead artist on Flipping the script, Jody created a suite of digital works with young women from the Afro-Diaspora exploring identity and representation. As a mentor and video artist on Place Patterns, Jody produced and directed eight short artist documentaries with local CALD artists exploring their practice and development. Currently, a new body of work (Eye to Eye) is under construction for PHOTO 2021, hosted by Footscray Community Arts Centre.
Jody has exhibited widely including Sydney Festival 2018 and Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2017 as part of Tell: Contemporary Indigenous Photography, Gertrude Street Projection Festival 2017, and as a commissioned artist for Dance Massive 2019 and Channels Festival 2019. In 2020, Jody was awarded a major Public Art commission through Collide Public Art. The structural art work, consisting of metal, digi-glass and sound, will be installed in the Ardens Garden Precinct, North Melbourne in early 2021.
After completing a Master of Arts, Art in Public Space, RMIT with Distinction (2018) Jody is currently a PhD candidate at RMIT School of Art, exploring relational and collaborative portraiture as a tool for social change.
Jody lives and works on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples and is a descendant of the Tommeginner peoples of Tasmania.
Solo Exhibitions, Collections, Commissions & Awards
2021 Feminist Futures paste up, FCAC Temp Public Art work (Postponed from 2020 due to COVID 19)
2020 Awarded artists for Arden Gardens Precinct, major Public Art commission
2020 West Projection Festival (New video work commission), Yet, my mouth is bound silent with carbon and cloth
2020 The Power that We have... 5 x Short Film Commission, Revisiting the Possum Skin Cloaks, with Vick Couzens, Marnie Badham and RMIT.
2020 #IAMWOMAN, Eye to Eye, Through sKIN we Breathe, Lightscapes Public Art light boxes, RMIT and Melbourne Central, Vic
2019 #IAMWOMAN, Arts House, City of Melbourne, Vic
2019 Our People Our Place, Projection Commission, Horizon Festival, Sunshine Coast, QLD.
2019 Through sKIN we Breathe, for Same But Different, Dance Massive 2019
2018 #IAMWOMAN, Braybrook Community Hub, Vic
2018 Women Dreaming, Projection Commission, WOW 2018 and Festival 2018 Commonwealth Games
2017 Immerse Emerging Artist Award, Immerse Public Arts Festival
2017 This is not resolved, Gabriel Gallery, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Footscray, Vic.
2016 Searching for Bon, Collection of Hume City Council (Digital Collection)
Artist Residency
2019 Artist Residency, Arts House City of Melbourne, Portrait Residency with public outcome
2019 Artist Residency, Horizon Festival, QLD
2018 Artist Residency, Carriageworks, Sydney
2017 Saltwater Video Artist Residency, Wyndham City Council
2017 Women of the World Festival, Portrait Residency, FCAC, Melbourne - with public outcome
2017 Gertrude Street Projection Festival Masterclass laboratory, Testing Grounds, Melbourne
2021 Eye to Eye, Photo2021, FCAC (Feb 2020)
2020 Wyndham Art Prize, Finalist.
2020 Picturing Footscray, second prize winner.
2020 West Projections Festival
2020 Hidden Footscray, Maribyrnong City Council initiative, FCAC, Vic (Postponed due to COVID 19)
2019 Her Focus, Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne
2019 Digital Nation, Channels Festival and Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne
2018 Flipping the Script, Red Arcade, Wyndham City Council
2018 All of us, Blind Side Gallery , Melbourne
2018 SALT, West Projections Festival, Melbourne
2018 SALT, Point Cook Unknown, Vic
2018 #IAMWOMAN, Women of the World, Women of The Commonwealth, 2018, Brisbane
2018 #IAMWOMAN, included in Come together, VU Metro, Melbourne
2018 This Is not Resolved, included in Tell: Contemporary Indigenous Photography, Sydney Festival, Sydney
2017 #IAMWOMAN, One night in Footscray, Public Art Festival, Melbourne
2017 #IAMWOMAN, Immerse Public Art Festival, Knox, Melbourne
2017 Future is Now, RMIT Europe, Barcelona, Spain
2017 This Is not Resolved, included in Tell: Contemporary Indigenous Photography, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Ballarat
2017 Future is now, Gertrude Street Projection Festival, Fitzroy, Melbourne
2017 Iris Awards, PCP, Semi Finalist, Perth
2017 Footscray Art Prize (Tertiary) Shortlisted Artist. VU Metro, Footscray, Melbourne
2016 Proximity, 3 O’clock Gallery, South Bank, Melbourne
2016 Space Between Light Festival, Richmond, Melbourne
2016 Melt Portrait Prize. Brisbane (Finalist, Highly Commended)
2015 Labouring Under an Assumption, Brisbane
2014 Spirit Queen, Photography Factory, Sydney
2014 Lethbridge Art Prize, (Finalist, Highly Commended)
2013 Museum of the Long weekend, C100 Canberra
Curatorial Roles
2018
Curator - Women of the World 2018, Brisbane
2014
Curator & Exhibition Coordinator - Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Performing Arts Market, proppaNOW
Curator - Walkley Foundation Nikon Walkley Projections, Brisbane
2013
Guest Curator & Workshop Presenter & Portfolio reviewer - Chobi Mela International Festival of Photography, Dhaka Bangladesh
Curator - Walkley Foundation Nikon Walkley Projections, Brisbane
Curator, Project & Production Manager - QLD Towns Documentary project, State Library of Queensland and Griffith University
2013 – 2007
Curator & Exhibitions Coordinator - Brisbane Powerhouse, delivering over 100 exhibitions
2012
Curator - Walkley Foundation Nikon Walkley Projections, Brisbane
2006
Exhibition Manager - MSF and VII AGENCY Photographic exhibition, Congo the Forgotten War, Australian tour.
2006 – 2004
Curator & Workshop Facilitator – Photography workshops for Hazara refugees with public exhibition outcomes. Brisbane City Council.
2003
Curator, Artist & Exhibitions Coordinator - Global Citizens, a response to Australia’s refugee crisis