Tina Fiveash: Photographer And Artist

by Katherine Cummings

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Tina Fiveash is an extraordinary photographic artist. Like other talented photographers she has the capacity to bring out the truth of a situation in terms which we might otherwise never consider. Her images are often beautiful, frequently mischievous and almost always thought-provoking. The first impulse may be to laugh but this is often followed by a compulsion to wonder why Fiveash has presented this image in this way, and to see beyond the clever compositions and the satirical jibes at our convoluted society to a thoughtful truth which is never far below the surface.

The cover image on this issue of Polare was made in 1994, Fiveash's first year as a freelance photographer. I came across it in a book entitled Lesbian Art, edited by Elizabeth Ashburn and published in 1996. I was so impressed by it that I contacted Fiveash through Ashburn and bought an enlargement for my own collection of special art.

Tina Fiveash is generous as well as talented. When she supplied my print of "Twilight Lovers" she included an amusing account of the background to the image, and, with her permission, I have reproduced some of her letter with this partial account of her career to date.

I attended several of Fiveash's exhibitions but our lives took separate paths for some years and it was not until I encountered Fiveash taking photos at the wedding of a mutual friend in 2003 that I found out she had moved from Canberra to Sydney. Knowing her interest in creative portraiture of gay, lesbian and transgendered (usually F.T.M.) subjects, I decided to use "Twilight Lovers" as a cover image and run a story on Fiveash and her work, given her willingness to co-operate. She has proved to be more than simply co-operative. She has given generously of her life and her work.

Fiveash took her Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1994, graduating with First Class Honours and a Major in Photomedia from the Canberra School of Art.

Since then she has been a guest lecturer in Queer and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University, guest lecturer and Graduate Artist in Residence at the Canberra School of Art, and her work has appeared in a multitude of magazines including Encore, Photo file, House and Garden, D.N.A., Blue and H.Q.

Her photographs have also been used on the cover of several publications (A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory, Youth and Sexualities, Cross-Currents in Contemporary Australian Art and Car Maintenance, Explosives and Love).

She has held a number of exhibitions, in galleries large and small, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, prizes and grants. She has worked alone and in partnership with other artists.

Fiveash has also developed an interest in the moving mage and has been involved in a number of video projects, including "She'll Grow Out Of It", a documentary about tomboys, which is currently in the edit stage. Of herself, Fiveash said in 2002:

"I started photographing tranny boys (a term many F.T.M. transsexuals I have known use to describe themselves) in 1998. At different stages through my teenage years and adult life I had experienced extended periods of gender dysphoria, suffered anxiety attacks and bouts of depression, due to not feeling 'right' inside my skin. At times I have pretended to be a boy, dressed as a boy and prayed that I would wake up as a boy, although I had no idea at the time that changing gender was actually an attainable option. It has been hugely exciting and inspiring for me to discover through F.T.M. friends that there is a choice - a very self ­empowering, enriching and positive choice.

Observing my F.T.M. friends metamorphosis has been both extraordinary and wonderful - witnessing shy, awkward women transformed into self-confident, proud men.

I have felt extremely privileged and honoured to be able to record images of my friends, to be allowed into such a personal space. They are very brave and I am proud to know them. "

And I am proud to know Tina Fiveash. For many people in the straight community her works must be challenging or even disturbing (as the A.B.C. said, they "raise hackles"). For the transgender, gay and lesbian communities they are an affirmation and an inspiration. They carry a message of independence and self-esteem which is assertive without being aggressive and satirical without being hypercritical. She is the artistic voice and the perceptive eyes of our community.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.