Doctor Grace Robertson
Nationality: United Kingdom
Year: 1999
Subject Area: Arts and Humanities
I photographed fourteen women: a minister, vet, auctioneer, farmer, timpanist, secretary, Woolworth’s controller, accountant, midwife, gallery director, chef, magazine editor, graphic designer, and painter.
Common early experiences were school advisors promoting careers while showing contempt for motherhood. These are women who delegate, are flexible and find ways to overcome ‘losing’ themselves in the process. All work at resisting lowering social influences on their families.
The University of Brighton hosted my retrospective in 2002; four working mothers were included. When I am able to publish another monograph I shall be comparing these younger women with an earlier study of older working mothers.
The museum in San Diego mounted an exhibition in 2006: ‘Breaking the Frame: Six Women Pioneers of Photojournalism’, I was the only British contributor. I was in Tate Britain’s exhibition : ‘How We Are’ (2007), and in July 2007 I received an Honorary Doctorate from Brunel University.