100+ women's exhibition Painted Tree Gallery Northcliffe

This exhibition celebrates 100 plus years of women in the Northcliffe region.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of settlement in Northcliffe, a small town in the State’s Southwest, our latest exhibition showcases the unique role women have played across the region’s history.

100♀ curator, Greer Marns says “the exhibition showcases the work of 22 artists and reflects on Northcliffe’s rich history, diverse landscape, and creative culture through the lens of women.”

Themes explored include acknowledgement of the traditional custodians of the area (Bibulmun/Piblemen/ Noongar people), one hundred years of settlement, dairy and tobacco farming, logging and the era of protests against deforestation. From pre settlement to the early days of settlement where necessity bred creative work, through to contemporary times where artists create in studios amongst ancient trees, Northcliffe is a place that inspires creativity.

Ms Marns says, “100♀ is an exhibition seeking to uncover creative acts by women, tendering an often-untold perspective. Historically,” she says “women’s roles have been less in the public realm than men’s and statistically, women’s creativity is less likely to be showcased, particularly in larger state or National art galleries”.

The exhibition opened on March 29th, attracting an audience of 400+. It featured a warm Welcome to Country by Bibbulmun Elder, Aunty Suzanne Kelly, a stirring recital by Claudette Mountjoy an overview of the show by curator, Greer Marns and a riveting opening speech by Bev Thiele, retired Women’s Studies academic, Emeritus Professor and current Secretary of the Northcliffe Pioneer Museum. Music was provided by Helen Rose.

100+ exhibition, Painted Tree Gallery Northcliffe, 2024

Dr Bev Thiele’s opening speech can be found here (for those who loved it so much and would like to revisit it).

Commemorative tea towels designed by Marite Norris can be purchased here.

100♀ presents a diverse spectrum of women’s creative practice, from historical to contemporary, traversing a broad range of subjects as varied as Northcliffe’s resourceful, creative history and it’s more recent and indeed current artistic culture.

The exhibition runs until May 12th 2024. It is presented by local community cultural organisation Southern Forest Arts.

List of exhibiting artists: