Juno Gemes (born 1944) is a Hungarian-born Australian activist and photographer, best known for her photography of

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

.Juno Gemes b. 1944
''Design & Art Australia Online''. A performer, theatre director, writer and publisher, Gemes was one of the founders of Australia's first experimental theatre group ''The Human Body''.

Early life

Juno Gemes was born in 1944 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, emigrating to Australia with her parents Alex and Lucy Gemes in 1949.

Career

Theatre

Gemes studied at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one o ...

and the

National Institute of Dramatic Art The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) is an Australian educational institution for the performing arts is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Founded in 1958, many of Australia's leading actors and directors trained at NIDA, including C ...

(NIDA) and graduated in 1964. In 1968 Gemes directed ''The Human Body'' Australia's first experimental theatre group, established with Johnny Allen and Clem Gorman. Some of ''The Human Body Performances'' at the Powerhouse warehouse in Haymarket, featured a geodesic light dome built by Jacky Joy Jacobson and Michael Glasheen from 5,000 light bulbs. Gemes worked in theatre and film, and worked in London sporadically in the late 1960s and 1970s, where she wrote for the London-based underground newspaper ''

International Times ''International Times'' (''it'' or ''IT'') is the name of various underground newspapers, with the original title founded in London in 1966 and running until October 1973. Editors included John "Hoppy" Hopkins, David Mai ...

''. While in London, Gemes performed in some of

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

's work including the avant-garde film ''Bottoms'' and a performance piece ''The scream at the Perfumed Garden''.

Photography

Gemes began exhibiting her photography in Australia in 1966, and held her first solo exhibition, "We Wait No More", in 1982. In 1971, Gemes became involved with the Yellow House Artist Collective in Potts Point, Sydney.Juno Gemes
National Portrait Gallery. Collaborating with another member of the Collective, landscape artist Mick Glasheen, to document traditional stories about

Uluru Uluru (; pjt, Uluṟu ), also known as Ayers Rock ( ) and officially gazetted as UluruAyers Rock, is a large sandstone formation in the centre of Australia. It is in the southern part of the Northern Territory, southwest of Alice Springs ...

. They stayed in the Central Desert for six months in a

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The triangular elements of the dome are structurally rigid and distribute the structural stress throughout the structure, making geodesic ...

seeking out the

Pitjantjara The Pitjantjatjara (; or ) are an Aboriginal people of the Central Australian desert near Uluru. They are closely related to the Yankunytjatjara and Ngaanyatjarra and their languages are, to a large extent, mutually intelligible (all are va ...

elders in the area. Gemes is known for her photographs depicting the cultural and political struggle of indigenous peoples in Australia, including land rights, the handing back of

to the traditional owners, and the National Apology to the Stolen Generations in the

Federal Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-ge ...

. Gemes describes ''Nothing Personal'' by

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...

and

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for '' Harper's Bazaar'', '' Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and da ...

, which examines American culture including civil rights and the rise of black nationalism, as an early influence in her work. In 1976, Gemes photographed American civil rights leader

on the rooftop of the Athenaeum Hotel in London. ''Under Another Sky, Juno Gemes Photography 1968–1988'', a survey of Gemes work from over twenty years was exhibited in Budapest and Paris in the late 1980s. In 2018, Gemes told ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' her reason for taking up photography: "It was because I saw that Aboriginal people were invisible that I took up the camera." Much of her work has documented the Aboriginal rights and land rights movements,Gemes, Juno. "The Political and the Personal Process in Portraiture: Juno Gemes in Conversation - National Portrait Gallery, August 2003." ''Australian Aboriginal Studies (Canberra, A.C.T. : 1983)'' 2003.2 (2003): 85-92. from the

Aboriginal Tent Embassy The Aboriginal Tent Embassy is a permanent protest occupation site as a focus for representing the political rights of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander people. Established on 26 January (Australia Day) 1972, and celebrating ...

to 2008 when she was one of ten photographers selected to officially document the

Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples Apology, The Apology, apologize/apologise, apologist, apologetics, or apologetic may refer to: Common uses * Apology (act), an expression of remorse or regret * Apologia, a formal defense of an opinion, position, or action Arts, entertainment, ...

. Gemes has thirty works in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Australia. Her papers are held at the

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

and the Mitchell Library of the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

Publishing

In 1986 Gemes and her partner Australian poet Robert Adamson co-founded, with writer

Michael Wilding Michael Charles Gauntlet Wilding (23 July 1912 – 8 July 1979) was an English stage, television, and film actor. He is best known for a series of films he made with Anna Neagle; he also made two films with Alfred Hitchcock, ''Under Caprico ...

, independent publishing company Paper Bark Press (sometimes spelt Paperbark), which published Australian poetry. Wilding left the company in 1990, and Gemes and Adamson continued to run the company until 2002. In 1997 Adamson and Gemes collaborated on the publication ''The Language of Oysters''.

Personal life

Gemes' son, Orlando Gemes, born in London in 1975, is pictured with Essie Coffey OAM in a portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. He travelled with his mother as she documented Aboriginal people and activism.

Selected exhibitions

* ''We wait no more'' Hogarth Gallery & Apmira 5 – 26 November 1982 * Gemes created a visual document of the historic Uluru Handback Ceremony 26 October 1985 at Uluru NT. *''Our Community exhibition'',

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Mu ...

, Canberra, 30 June to 30 November 2005 *''PROOF: Portraits from The Movement 1978–2003'' National Portrait Gallery 12 July – 10 September 2003 and Macquarie University Gallery 10 March – 10 May 2004. * ''Juno Gemes: The Quiet Activist, A Survey Exhibition 1979–2019'' *In November–December 2016, Gemes' work was included in an exhibition at

Carriageworks Carriageworks is a multi-arts urban cultural precinct located at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops in Redfern, Sydney, Australia. Carriageworks showcases contemporary art and performing arts, as well as being used for filming, festivals, ...

in Redfern, Sydney, celebrating the 40th anniversary of

NAISDA Dance College The NAISDA Dance College (usually referred to as simply NAISDA) is a performing arts training college based in Kariong, New South Wales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. It was established as the Aboriginal Islander ...

, called ''Naya Wa Yugali'' ("We Dance" in Darkinyung language). * From 17 – 29 September 2019 Gemes exhibited at Maunsel Wickes at Barry Stern Galleries in a group show entitled Three Women Artists In Country.

References

External links

* 1944 births Living people Australian women photographers University of Sydney alumni National Institute of Dramatic Art alumni Hungarian emigrants to Australia Artists from Budapest {{Australia-photographer-stub