Resilience
Exploring the theme of resilience and women, “Resilience” is a collection of B&W portraits, which celebrates cultural diversity, strength, and contributions women make to their community. Created to celebrate International Women’s Day. Photographer Rebecca Hosking captures the unique essence of each individual woman, as reflected in the style and mood of each portrait, using only the available light at the time of the shoot.
Exploring the theme of resilience and women, “Resilience” is a collection of B&W portraits, which celebrates cultural diversity, strength, and contributions women make to their community. Created to celebrate International Women’s Day,
Photographer Rebecca Hosking captures the unique essence of each individual woman, as reflected in the style and mood of each portrait, using only the available light at the time of the shoot.
Due to interest and appreciated requests, Rebecca created a book-layout of the photos and text from the travelling exhibition, so that it can continue to inspire and share the journey of women to all.
It’s first viewing resulted in being short-listing, and an extremely close third place as a part of BIFB’15 “One for the Books” Prize competition, that was open to Photographers worldwide.
Peter Marshall Photography – Timeless Images
Resilience: Introduction to the theme of “Resilience” (text from the travelling exhibition and project and also the books introduction)
Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever.
Rather than letting adversity overcome us and drain our resolve, we try to find a way to rise from the ashes. These portraits, accompanied by the personal words of the women photographed, showcase factors that make us resilient.
Among them; positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate emotions, and the ability to see challenges as opportunities to grow. Even after a misfortune, blessed with such an outlook, women are able to change course and soldier on.
International Women’s Day started in 1975 and is celebrated across the world on March 8th each year. It is a day when women are recognised for their achievements; national, ethnic, linguistic,
cultural, economic or political.
In January and February of 2013, Robyn Lucas, Surf Coast Shire, and Rebecca Hosking, Photographer, met the most amazing local women. They have shared stories, laughed and cried. They have shared travels to Tibet, India, Italy, France, Canada, and China. They have had country hospitality in Winchelsea, been to artists’ studios in Bellbrae and eaten “komatoes” in Torquay!
These intimate black and white portraits, using natural lighting, are powerful, insightful and intriguing.
Insight into the Project:
Living on the Surf Coast, Rebecca’s photographic focal point centres on capturing the essence of the subject and illuminating it, whether in landscape, macro, and portraits, in a detailed and artistic light wherein the viewer is transported to that moment.
Her photography is noted for its pure images that capture the “moment within a moment” and her observation skills, teamed with technical acumen, translates into capturing the true spirit of a person. All portraits in this book were taken strictly using only the available light at the time of the shoot.
Rebecca strongly identifies with the theme of resilience both as an individual and as a woman, and has been honoured to be a part of the project and to photograph the diverse resilience, inherent in women on the Surf Coast, especially for International Women’s Day.
Rebecca says, “International Women’s Day is a day I believe in strongly and have celebrated and supported since I was eighteen. I am proud of my achievement when as Vice President of the Student Association, at La Trobe University, Bendigo, I negotiated an on-going specific room for the Women’s Collective”.
“My own resilience enriches the “what” and “how” I see and experience my environment. My work entails bringing out the beauty in the simple and smallest moments that collectively make up our bigger experiences.
On a personal note, I believe in honouring, respecting, enriching, advocating, and contributing to the world in a meaningful and purposeful way, wherein truth and the bigger picture are of uncompromised importance”.
Women who embody resilience, who identify and find their resilience in different forms, ways and expressions, are represented in the following pages. It is this diversity that Rebecca feels blessed to witness, explore, and learn from. The “Resilience” journey has been a particular joy for Rebecca to experience and warmly thanks these women for this gift and humbly sharing their stories for this project.
All women share the quality of resilience. It stems from and expresses itself in different ways, as required at different times in life, and if at a time we are deep in a journey and unable to see it, there will be other women – sisters, friends, family and women we don’t yet know – who see this quality and reflect it back; all bonded by the journey of woman.
Photographing the women whom you will also meet in the following pages has been an honour and a privilege.
“Resilience Tour Final Destination” Exhibition Information:
An acclaimed local photography exhibition showing the diversity and strength of Surf Coast women is travelling to Lorne for its finale at Qdos Arts Gallery.
The compelling Resilience portrait exhibition, launched on International Women’s Day this year, will be opened in Lorne by curator Stephen Zagala from the Monash Gallery of Art on Sunday 13 October at 2pm, running until Sunday 27 October.
The works are compelling black and white portraits of more than 30 Surf Coast women, taken by Fairhaven-based photographer Rebecca Hosking.
The exhibition has been to Torquay, Aireys Inlet, and Winchelsea. Thousands of people saw the exhibition at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale this year, where it was featured at the new Museum of Australian Democracy.
“Resilience” Book
Exploring the theme of resilience and women, “Resilience” is a collection of B&W portraits, which celebrates cultural diversity, strength, and contributions women make to their community. Created to celebrate International Women’s Day,
Photographer Rebecca Hosking captures the unique essence of each individual woman, as reflected in the style and mood of each portrait, using only the available light at the time of the shoot.
Due to interest and appreciated requests, Rebecca created a book-layout of the photos and text from the travelling exhibition, so that it can continue to inspire and share the journey of women to all.
It’s first viewing resulted in being short-listing, and an extremely close third place as a part of BIFB’15 “One for the Books” Prize competition, that was open to Photographers worldwide.