Panel: Women in Photobooths
Presentation Type
Event
Start Date
8-3-2026 1:51 AM
Description
Panelists: Catlin Langford, Ruth O'Leary, Katherine Griffiths
2026 marks 100 years since the public debut of the photobooth. Despite their once-ubiquitous presence in urban centres across the world, photobooths have been underacknowledged and marginalised in the history of photography. So too, then, have women's multifaceted involvement with these photographic machines. As 'Photomatons' spread across the world in the 1920s, women commonly featured in the company's promotional advertisements and were strongly encouraged to patronise the machines through competitions. Following photobooths' wider proliferation in society since the 1960s, women have used the machines as a safe, private space within the public domain to create expressive artworks. Women artists and creators were drawn to the photobooth as an inexpensive, accessible, and convenient means of producing self-images and bodies of work that fit into their daily lives, including caring duties. This panel will reflect on the role of 'women in the photobooth'. It will consist of an initial paper by curator Catlin Langford on the history of photobooths and women, before opening to contributions by Australian artists Ruth O'Leary and Katherine Griffiths, who have produced vast bodies of work in the photobooth, inspired by ideas relating to identity, feminism, and motherhood. The panel will conclude with a consideration of women's present role in restoring and ensuring the continued presence of historic photobooths in current society.
Katherine Griffiths trained as a ceramic designer at Monash University and has since travelled overseas extensively. On a shoestring and frequently without a camera, Griffiths started using photobooths to document her travels. Once settled back in Melbourne, Griffiths continued to take photographs in the many black-and-white booths that were dotted around Melbourne, experimenting with masks, costumes, makeup and different backgrounds. Griffith's collection now holds several thousand images and continues to expand.
Catlin Langford is a curator, writer and researcher, specialising in photography based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is undertaking a PhD at RMIT focusing on photobooths and presently works with the V&A and Gallerie d'Italia in curatorial and consultancy roles. Langford previously held positions at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, V&A, Royal Collection Trust and Royal College of Art. In addition, she has curated exhibitions for Photolux Festival, Photo Oxford and Landskrona Foto Festival, and spoken about photography at the University of Oxford, Windsor Castle, National Galleries of Scotland, The Photographers' Gallery and Birkbeck College, among others. Her debut publication Colour Mania: Photographing the World in Autochrome (Thames & Hudson/V&A) was released in 2022, and she recently edited and contributed to Auto Photo: A Life in Portraits (2024, Perimeter/Centre for Contemporary Photography).
Ruth O'Leary (based in Djaara Country) holds a BFA from RMIT University and First Class Honours from Monash University. Her practice interlaces feminist, subjective and spatial ideas played out through the expanded field of painted dresses, photography and performance. As a mother of three small children, Ruth’s experience of maternity informs all her work. Rather than elide the tension between motherhood and artistic practice, Ruth puts it at the centre of her practice and gives voice and materiality to her experience as a woman, an artist and a mother. She has exhibited in solo exhibitions (Bus Projects, C3, TCB) and participated widely in group shows across Australia.
Relational Format
Conference proceeding
Recommended Citation
Langford, Catlin; O'Leary, Ruth; and Griffiths, Katherine, "Panel: Women in Photobooths" (2026). Women of Photography: A 24-Hour Conference-a-thon Celebrating International Women’s Day. 7.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/womenofphotography/2026/schedule/7
Panel: Women in Photobooths
Panelists: Catlin Langford, Ruth O'Leary, Katherine Griffiths
2026 marks 100 years since the public debut of the photobooth. Despite their once-ubiquitous presence in urban centres across the world, photobooths have been underacknowledged and marginalised in the history of photography. So too, then, have women's multifaceted involvement with these photographic machines. As 'Photomatons' spread across the world in the 1920s, women commonly featured in the company's promotional advertisements and were strongly encouraged to patronise the machines through competitions. Following photobooths' wider proliferation in society since the 1960s, women have used the machines as a safe, private space within the public domain to create expressive artworks. Women artists and creators were drawn to the photobooth as an inexpensive, accessible, and convenient means of producing self-images and bodies of work that fit into their daily lives, including caring duties. This panel will reflect on the role of 'women in the photobooth'. It will consist of an initial paper by curator Catlin Langford on the history of photobooths and women, before opening to contributions by Australian artists Ruth O'Leary and Katherine Griffiths, who have produced vast bodies of work in the photobooth, inspired by ideas relating to identity, feminism, and motherhood. The panel will conclude with a consideration of women's present role in restoring and ensuring the continued presence of historic photobooths in current society.
Katherine Griffiths trained as a ceramic designer at Monash University and has since travelled overseas extensively. On a shoestring and frequently without a camera, Griffiths started using photobooths to document her travels. Once settled back in Melbourne, Griffiths continued to take photographs in the many black-and-white booths that were dotted around Melbourne, experimenting with masks, costumes, makeup and different backgrounds. Griffith's collection now holds several thousand images and continues to expand.
Catlin Langford is a curator, writer and researcher, specialising in photography based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is undertaking a PhD at RMIT focusing on photobooths and presently works with the V&A and Gallerie d'Italia in curatorial and consultancy roles. Langford previously held positions at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, V&A, Royal Collection Trust and Royal College of Art. In addition, she has curated exhibitions for Photolux Festival, Photo Oxford and Landskrona Foto Festival, and spoken about photography at the University of Oxford, Windsor Castle, National Galleries of Scotland, The Photographers' Gallery and Birkbeck College, among others. Her debut publication Colour Mania: Photographing the World in Autochrome (Thames & Hudson/V&A) was released in 2022, and she recently edited and contributed to Auto Photo: A Life in Portraits (2024, Perimeter/Centre for Contemporary Photography).
Ruth O'Leary (based in Djaara Country) holds a BFA from RMIT University and First Class Honours from Monash University. Her practice interlaces feminist, subjective and spatial ideas played out through the expanded field of painted dresses, photography and performance. As a mother of three small children, Ruth’s experience of maternity informs all her work. Rather than elide the tension between motherhood and artistic practice, Ruth puts it at the centre of her practice and gives voice and materiality to her experience as a woman, an artist and a mother. She has exhibited in solo exhibitions (Bus Projects, C3, TCB) and participated widely in group shows across Australia.