Anne Ferran – Bio

For over 20 years, Anne Ferran has worked to uncover Australia and New Zealand’s colonial histories, probing for gaps and silences. She has been drawn to the lives of anonymous women and children, seeking to shed light on their presence and absence in museum collections, photographic archives and historic sites. It is characteristic of Ferran's work that the subject is not seen but instead haunts the image. Intellectually and emotionally engaging, her photographs have explored episodes of incarceration in prisons, asylums and hospitals, giving voice to the spectres of the lost and unseen.

Ferran has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally since the 1980's and is highly regarded as an artist, academic and writer. Amongst her recent exhibitions are Emanations: the Art of the Cameraless Photograph, Govett Brewster Gallery, NZ (2016); MAMA Art Foundation National Photography Prize (2016); Anne Ferran: Shadowland, a major survey show that has toured prominent national institutions (2014-2016); The Photograph and Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales; Photo L.A, with Queensland Centre for Photography (2013); Negotiating this World, National Gallery of Victoria (2012); Anne Ferran: The Ground, the Air, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery and Wollongong City Gallery (2008-2009). She has been the recipient of prestigious awards, fellowships and grants, which include the Higashikawa International Photographer Award (2009) and the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photographic Award (2003). Her work is held in major public collections, including International Museum of Photography, New York; National Gallery of Australia; National Gallery of Victoria; Monash University; Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery; Art Gallery of South Australia; Art Gallery of Western Australia; and Art Gallery of New South Wales.