Carol Jerrems

Carol Jerrems
Carol Jerrems photographed by Rennie Ellis at Brummels Gallery in 1975
Born	(1949-03-14)14 March 1949 Ivanhoe, Victoria
Died	21 February 1980(1980-02-21) (aged 30) Prahran, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Known for	Photography

Carol Jerrems (14 March 1949 –21 February 1980) was an Australian photographer/filmmaker whose work emerged just as her medium was beginning to regain the acceptance as an artform that it had in the Pictorial era, and in which she newly synthesises complicity performed, documentary and autobiographical image-making of the human subject, as exemplified in her Vale Street.

Known for documenting the revolutionary spirit of sub-cultures including that of indigenous Australians, disaffected youth, and the emergent feminist movement of Melbourne in the 1970s, her work has been compared to that of internationally known Americans Larry Clark–of a slightly older generation–and Nan Goldin, as well as fellow Australian William Yang.

Jerrems died at age 30. Her short yet productive seven-year career parallels that of contemporary Francesca Woodman.

Jerrems was born on 14 March 1949 at Ivanhoe, Melbourne the third child of Victorian-born parents Eric Alfred Jerrems (1917-1970), an accountant, and Joyce Mary (a.k.a. Joy) née Jacobs, (1922-1993), seamstress and artist. She attended (1955–60) Ivanhoe Primary School and Heidelberg High School (1961–66) and went on in 1967 to complete a Diploma of Art and Design, majoring in Photography, in the newly established photography course at Prahran Technical School, where she was taught by cinematographer Paul Cox and acted in his film Skin Deep. During her studies she was awarded the Walter Lindrum Scholarship, the Institute of Australian Photographers Award, and First Prize in the Kodak Students Photographic Competition.

Having graduated from Prahran Technical School, Jerrems undertook a Diploma of Education at Hawthorn State College, Melbourne.

In 1971, National Gallery of Victoria curator Jennie Boddington (from 1972 director of the first Department of Photography in any Australian public gallery) acquired Jerrems’ work for the collection.