The Ladies Network Are Clearing Gallery Space for Australia's Female Creatives

Lara Vrkic was sick of her talented female friends telling her that they didn’t consider themselves to be ‘real’ artists or have the confidence to publicly exhibit their work, so she decided to do something about it. “For some reason, so many of them weren’t motivated to show people their art, even though it was as good as half of the stuff you’d see in big exhibitions,” she tells The Creators Project. Seeking to shine a spotlight on Sydney’s undervalued female creatives, the young curator put on an all-women art exhibition that was so popular crowds of attendees were forced out onto the street—and so, The Ladies Network was born.

Almost a year on, The Ladies Network is now a multi-platform agency with the mission of promoting female talent. It’s run by seven women from different arts backgrounds who organise bi-monthly women’s art shows, run a regular blog series that explores music, film, and photography, and also sell work by young female artists through their online store.

Painter Noni Cragg models a Ladies Network tee. Photo by Morgan Brennan, courtesy of The Ladies Network

Project manager Emmeline Peterson says that the success of the initial exhibition was totally unexpected. “Everyone was spilling out onto the streets, and the police ended up shutting us down—it wasn’t rowdy or anything, but I think they were just a bit confused as to what was going on because there were so many people in this little space,” she says.

Encouraged, the ladies behind The Ladies Network organised a second exhibition at a bigger venue. “That one got shut down too, after two hours. There were hundreds of people trying to fit into a gallery space, which doesn’t usually happen.”

The exhibitions are designed to feel inclusive and welcoming. “Because the only thing that unites the artists is that they are female or female identifying, we end up we having all these different mediums of art that aren’t usually put together in one exhibition,” says Emmeline. “I think people are really attracted to knowing they’ll see a bunch of different things.”

Some of the artists supported by The Ladies Network include painters Esther Olsson and Jessica Cochrane, photographic artist Anna Cuthill, and textile artist/painter Carla Adams.

The Ladies Network have big plans for the future. An all-women photography show for Sydney’s VIVID festival aims to take back the female gaze (“There’s obviously never been any shortage of female photography subjects,” Emmeline says, “So why is it always, always men behind the camera?”) and they’ll also be throwing their first birthday party next month.

You can find out more about The Ladies Network here and follow them on Instagram.

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