Australian Girls Own Gallery


The australian Girls Own Gallery was a commercial art gallery that operated in Leichhardt Street, Kingston in Canberra from 1989 to 1998. The gallery was owned and operated by former National Gallery of Australia curator Helen Maxwell, and exhibited the work of women artists almost exclusively.

History

The gallery opened in 1989.
The first exhibition at aGOG was Les femmes formidables 1 which ran from 16 March19 April 1989 and featured the work of five female artists: Banduk Marika, Barbara Hanrahan, Joyce Allen, Lidia Groblicka and Kate Lohse. Art historian and art critic Sasha Grishin noted that the represented artists "from an important cross-section of contemporary women printmakers in Australia".
aGOG would exhibit several group and solo shows each year. Represented artists included: Vivienne Binns, Pam Debenham, Judy Horacek, Marie McMahon, Patsy Payne, Mitzi Shearer, Ruth Waller, and Judy Watson.
In 1992 and 1995, solo exhibitions of the work of Yolngu artist Nancy Gaymala Yunupingu were shown.
aGog closed in 1998.

Significance

The gallery was significant because it only represented women artists. Maxwell started the gallery because she felt as that there was a bias against women artists within the art world and she "felt strongly that women didn't get enough of a voice".