Wellington photographer Anita Corbin has just unveiled four striking new portraits as aspect of her ongoing First Women sequence.
The portraits are on show in Newcastle as part of an exhibition entitled Trailblazers, exploring the achievements of women, both living and historic, who have made a significant contribution to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries. Anita is also planning to feature one of the four women Jane Atkinson (pictured),, in her ground breaking project “First Women” which will be unveiled in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage.
Anita says, “I have spent my life promoting positive images of women and when the names of the sitters were unveiled in March I was really excited to meet some of the women I would be photographing and start the real creative process of deciding how and where to shoot them. I truly believe that photography as a visual tool can inspire and change attitudes, and by creating role models we can encourage young women to aspire to a life in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.
Trailblazers includes 24 portraits, drawn mainly from the National Portrait Gallery collection. All the portraits feature groundbreaking female scientists who have made their mark in science and technology over the past 250 years.
Anita won the commission thanks in part to the work she had carried out on ‘Science in Profile’ when between 1988-1989 she worked with her partner John O’Grady and The British Council on their collection of 24 colour portraits of Great British Scientists. This included the last official portrait of Nobel Prize winner Dorothy Hodgkin and Dorothy is also featured in the Trailblazers’ exhibition.
Anita continues, “I have been a portrait photographer all my working life and I am passionate about creating images of girls and women that make people stop and think. My passion is fired by years of working as an editorial portrait photographer with the Sunday Times and Observer colour magazines, where I was often sent around the world to cover ‘human interest’ stories involving women. “