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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders both past and present.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that this website contains images of deceased persons.

Ambrose Campbell, 1973

Carol Jerrems

gelatin silver photograph on paper (image: 30.2cm x 20.1cm. sheet: 50.5cm x 40.4cm. frame: 74.2cm x 54.7cm)
Ambrose Campbell, 1973

Mirrors offered Jerrems a way to manipulate space and project herself into the action. In this photograph, Ambrose Campbell (1919–2006), a Nigerian musician who toured Australia with American singer-songwriter Leon Russell, lies in a rumpled bed underneath Jerrems’ reflection. She anchors the centre of the scene but stands at a significant remove. It is as if she looks in on the image through a small distanced window. Her camera is held in front of her face as another instrument of separation. Here, she is both a lover and an observer. For Jerrems, the two could not be disentangled.

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. Gift of Mrs Joy Jerrems 1981.
© The Estate of Carol Jerrems

Related information

Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems
Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems
Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems
Bobbi Sykes, Aboriginal Medical Service, 1973 Carol Jerrems

Carol Jerrems: Portraits

Current exhibition

from Saturday 30 November 2024

Carol Jerrems: Portraits is a major exhibition of one of Australia’s most influential photographers. Jerrems’ intimate portraits of friends, lovers and artistic peers transcend the purely personal and have come to shape Australian visual culture.
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The National Portrait Gallery building front entrance
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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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