Photography / Gestures of Retribution, by Amy Carkeek. At PhotoAccess until  July 12. Reviewed by CON BOEKEL.

Power lies at the heart of politics. As a means to power, all sides try to put down the leaders and members of opposing parties.

This exhibition is about how female politicians face an additional challenge in the struggle for personal and political power – systemic institutional and personal misogyny. The highlight is a large neon sign: Which Witch? This refers to the Ditch the Witch campaign of sustained misogyny against the then prime minister, Julia Gillard. That campaign is the conceptual fulcrum for this exhibition.

Accomplished politicians talk with their bodies and in particular with their hands. Gestures may be either weapons or shields. In the male-dominated world of power politics, gestures are also a means of putting women down. This exhibition is about female politicians appropriating hand gestures and doing a judo throw with them in order to project personal and political power.

The neon sign is complemented by 13 prints. Each print portrays a hand gesture made by a female politician. There is a gestalt reaction to the prints because the gestures are so familiar: the I am talking to you there! sign, the I want you to stop that now! sign, the I am being wise and thoughtful sign and the fist pump I am powerful sign.

Carkeek’s photographic technique perfectly matches the message. The prints are technically highly accomplished. Part of the zest for the viewer is picking up the multiple layers of meaning. The exhibition is intellectual as well as emotional, with both elements perhaps having a somewhat tongue-in-cheek handmaidenly restraint to them.

Each print is a one off. It is unique. The gestures of the artist are visible in the brush strokes of the emulsion. The raw edges of reality are reflected in the odd edge rip and in the folds in the paper of some of the prints.

The gestures in the prints are real gestures made by real female politicians during real political moments, having been gleaned from press photographs. The politicians are not named. They could belong to any political party and, I am guessing, probably do belong to several different parties. Viewers have the option of ascribing a particular gesture in any particular print to a particular politician. But the message here is generalised. Misogynistic abuse of power gestures occurs across all political parties.

I highly recommend a visit to this excellent exhibition.

Quite by coincidence, CityNews has recently published an article on the meaning of hand gestures by my colleague Clive Williams.

In art, depicting hands can be a real handful