Jennifer Mills

Jennifer Mills
Australian, born 1966; lives and works in Melbourne

In the echo chamber (Self-portrait in socks 1978) 2020
watercolour on paper
Courtesy of the artist and Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney

Artist statement:

The team photo, like the school photograph, is ubiquitous. They are formal time capsules memorialising circumstance and achievement. Lined up according to our height, role, gender and appearance, we pose, tensing for the click of the shutter, our forced grins are permanently fixed by the lens.

This is my Grade 6 school netball team photo. Until recently I hadn’t seen it for many years. Not long after this photo was taken I changed schools, and barring one, I didn’t see anyone in this image again. Of these ten faces, I remember some clearly, and some not at all. What I do remember is how I felt and what I was thinking as the photo was being taken. I’m in the back row, shoulders slumped, looking slightly disinterested and I’m wearing socks. In fact I was purposefully not smiling, I wanted the lens to capture my disappointment.