Minerva Betts
pagework / a baby is a woman’s best friend; pagework / the doctor said; pagework / and men know best
- 1985
- Hand-coloured black and white and cibachrome photographs
- Purchased, 1985
- 325 x 490mm
- 88/191.a-c
Location: Sir Robertson and Lady Stewart Gallery
Tags: births, families, infants, mothers, people (agents), physicians, squares (geometric figures), text (layout feature), triptychs, words
Minerva Betts is part of the et al. collective and known mainly for making photographs. For the pagework series, the artist has adorned several snapshots of a female torso with outfits and accessories cut from coloured photographs – adding a pink dress and baby, an authoritative blazer, a wedding dress and bouquet. These collages are then annotated with familiar clichés founded on societal expectations for women. Though central to the drama, the woman herself is curiously absent; subject to, and nearly obliterated by, the needs, desires and opinions of others, her role is seen and directed through their eyes and words.
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )
Exhibition History
Brought to light, November 2009- 22 February 2011
Minerva Betts’s 1985 Pagework is annotated with phrases that have the ring of familiar platitudes designed to keep women firmly in their place. The repeated image of a female torso is dressed in different accessories cut from coloured photographs – a pink dress and baby, an authoritative blazer, a wedding dress and bouquet. Though central to the drama, the woman herself is curiously absent. Subject to, and nearly obliterated by, the needs, desires and opinions of others, her role is seen and directed through their eyes and words.