Panel: “Herstory: A Female-Only Endeavor?”

Presentation Type

Event

Start Date

8-3-2026 11:52 AM

Description

Panelists: Nicole Hudgins, Clare Freestone, Anna Sparham, Hosts/Discussants: Kris Belden-Adams, Rose Teanby

A 40-minute conversation about the status of making women more visible in the history of photography. This discussion, guided by conference co-convenors Rose Teanby and Kris Belden-Adams, brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on challenges, progress, and future directions in feminist photography historiography.

Nicole Hudgins is a professor of history and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Baltimore. She is the author of The Gender of Photography: How Masculine and Feminine Values Shaped the History of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Hold Still, Madame: Wartime Gender and the Photography of Women in France during the Great War, and articles about early photography in such publications as Photographica, Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, and Photography & Culture.

Clare Freestone joined the Photographs department at the National Portrait Gallery in 2000. She curated the exhibitions and wrote accompanying catalogues for Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer (2011) and Yevonde: Life and Colour (2023). Clare is working towards the exhibition Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, opening in March 2026. As a curator of the Collection which comprises over 250,000 photographs dating from the 1840s to the current day her work includes the care and interpretation of, access to and the acquisition of photographic portraits of all genres. Some of the displays Clare has curated include Illuminating women: Photographs by Mayotte Magnus, Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair, Famous in the Fifties: Photographs by Daniel Farson and Scandal ’63: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Profumo Affair; and for the Gallery’s redevelopment and opening in 2023 Clare formed part of the curatorial team that re-thought and re-displayed the Collections. Her interests span the breadth of portrait photography but a particular focus on women in photography working in the 20th Century has emerged.

Anna Sparham is National Curator for Photography at the National Trust in the UK, working across the organisation to research and drive engagement with its extensive photography collections. For nearly 25 years she has worked across historic collections and with many contemporary practitioners. As former Curator of Photographs at the London Museum, Sparham created multiple exhibitions on subjects including women’s suffrage, the First World War, youth subculture, street photography and London at night. Subsequently, while freelancing in the field, she was awarded an Arts Council England grant to develop her own creative and curatorial practice. Her publications include 'Soldiers and Suffragettes, the Photography of Christina Broom', 'London Nights' and most recently '100 Photographs From the Collections of the National Trust'.

Relational Format

Conference proceeding

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Mar 8th, 11:52 AM

Panel: “Herstory: A Female-Only Endeavor?”

Panelists: Nicole Hudgins, Clare Freestone, Anna Sparham, Hosts/Discussants: Kris Belden-Adams, Rose Teanby

A 40-minute conversation about the status of making women more visible in the history of photography. This discussion, guided by conference co-convenors Rose Teanby and Kris Belden-Adams, brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on challenges, progress, and future directions in feminist photography historiography.

Nicole Hudgins is a professor of history and interdisciplinary studies at the University of Baltimore. She is the author of The Gender of Photography: How Masculine and Feminine Values Shaped the History of Nineteenth-Century Photography, Hold Still, Madame: Wartime Gender and the Photography of Women in France during the Great War, and articles about early photography in such publications as Photographica, Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, and Photography & Culture.

Clare Freestone joined the Photographs department at the National Portrait Gallery in 2000. She curated the exhibitions and wrote accompanying catalogues for Ida Kar: Bohemian Photographer (2011) and Yevonde: Life and Colour (2023). Clare is working towards the exhibition Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, opening in March 2026. As a curator of the Collection which comprises over 250,000 photographs dating from the 1840s to the current day her work includes the care and interpretation of, access to and the acquisition of photographic portraits of all genres. Some of the displays Clare has curated include Illuminating women: Photographs by Mayotte Magnus, Marilyn Monroe: A British Love Affair, Famous in the Fifties: Photographs by Daniel Farson and Scandal ’63: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Profumo Affair; and for the Gallery’s redevelopment and opening in 2023 Clare formed part of the curatorial team that re-thought and re-displayed the Collections. Her interests span the breadth of portrait photography but a particular focus on women in photography working in the 20th Century has emerged.

Anna Sparham is National Curator for Photography at the National Trust in the UK, working across the organisation to research and drive engagement with its extensive photography collections. For nearly 25 years she has worked across historic collections and with many contemporary practitioners. As former Curator of Photographs at the London Museum, Sparham created multiple exhibitions on subjects including women’s suffrage, the First World War, youth subculture, street photography and London at night. Subsequently, while freelancing in the field, she was awarded an Arts Council England grant to develop her own creative and curatorial practice. Her publications include 'Soldiers and Suffragettes, the Photography of Christina Broom', 'London Nights' and most recently '100 Photographs From the Collections of the National Trust'.