Sue Ford was an Australian photographer known for her eclectic style in photography. Sue Ford, born Susanne Helene Winslow, was introduced to the world of photography when her family gave her her first camera in her late teens to take photos of family holidays. In 1961, Ford started working as a darkroom assistant in Melbourne and in 1962, enrolled in a photography class at RMIT. In a class of thirty students, she was one of two females in the class. After finishing year one of a three year long program, Sue Ford left school due to sexual harassment in the darkroom and started renting a studio in Little Collins, Melbourne with a friend and fellow student at RMIT. During this time, she was actively taking photos of her children and experimenting with concepts for children book and doing image collaging. By the late 1960’s, she had created numerous bodies of work that included collages and montages, layers of negatives, photograms, and a lot of darkroom experimentation. In 1982, Sue suffered from a serious back injury caused by a horse riding incident. For a while after this, she could not photograph and because of that, she picked up painting. Sue Ford’s inspiration for her own work came from her friends, family, and mostly herself. Ford used her photography as a way to touch on social and political topics and discussions.
In 1988, Sue travled to Bathurst Island, Northern Territory to hold photography workshops with Tiwi Women. Starting around this time and through her later work, Sue Ford focused a lot on the world of feminism and capturing women in their naturally beautiful form.
All work courteous of Sue Ford.