Just as the pejorative terms above have all but been driven from Australian society, so too has the reality of what role gender plays in determining what we do for a crust. The This is Australia collection, devised by Getty Images and Canon, documents the phenomena.
‘Repicturing Gender’ was one of the four briefs delivered as part of the collection, to help furnish Australian marketers with a fresh and modern collection of images to visually describe ourselves with.
The brief wasn’t just asking for the aspiring shots of women leading in the workforce, it specifically wanted to engage with undoing destructive male stereotypes, and empowering women of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, and ages, with a focus on community. The scenarios championed for ‘This is Australia’ were women in the workforce, the modern-day Australian household, equality in relationships, and powerful portrayals of single women.
And who is better to represent Australian women than women themselves? The ‘This is Australia’ impressively boasts a majority female photographer participation. Women (and men) behind the cameras captured females – often their own friends, daughters, mothers – in the way that they think they should be portrayed in advertising.
And what a wonderful repicturing this is. Women of all ages playing soccer together and getting competitive, young female scientists at work, real women with real bodies exercising, girls taking on contact sports, women in trade jobs and grandmothers having fun with friends are all featured in the collection.
Messages of love, support, strength, and empowerment all came through.
The changing depiction of what it means to be a man is also captured, with images of vulnerable masculinity, caring dads and emotionally available friends created as part of the Repicturing Gender brief for ‘This is Australia’.
What will Australian men and women will look like in your next campaign?
Check out the top 100 of the ‘This is Australia’ Collection by clicking here or search gettyimages.com.au with “thisisaustraliacollection” as the keyword.
