Skip to content

Elders and Forebears Gallery

Lesley Hall (1954 – 2013)

A black and white linocut print featuring an older woman with long hair and glasses holding up a sign that says "Spastic Society opposses women. The letter "s" is made to look like the lightning bolts in the SS Nazi symbol.

By Larissa MacFarlane

Lesley was a feminist disaiblity advocate and leader in the Disability and Workers Right’s movements since the 1970s. She trained and worked as a teacher, and worked in numerous community and arts organisations. Lesley was one of the founders of the Women with Disabilities Feminist Collective (WDFC), now known as Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA). She was CEO of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) and from 2008 to 2013, where she [played a foundational role in establishing the National Disability and Carers Alliance and influencing the formation of the NDIS. She was also Chair of Arts Access Victoria. 
 
Throughout her life Lesley was a passionate advocate and activist against beauty pageants. The representation of Lesley in this artwork is based on a famous photograph of her protest action at the Miss America Quest pageant in St Kilda in 1981. Lesley was strongly opposed to the inherent contradiction in events like these that raised money to support children with cerebral palsy, yet objectified physical perfection and excluded people with disability. The sign she holds in this artwork defiantly utilises a style of ’S’ reminiscent of the Schutzstaffel or SS, and likely references the targeting of disabled people under Nazi eugenics policies. 
 
Lesley has long been a source of strength for me. We both worked in Ross House for many years and I feel fortunate to have witnessed her might first hand. But I only learnt of the huge contributions she has made to Australian disabled people after she died. Since then her legacy has inspired me to be braver and speak out more. 
 

“Disability is a feminist issue.” 

– Lesley Hall

Photograph of a linocut print. In the foreground, in black, is an older Aboriginal woman with short hair, squinting a little as she gazes off into the distance. Only her head in depicted, and it overlaps with a ticket with the words "First Peoples Disability Network" written on it. In the background is red and yellow lines and dots in the style of traditional First Nations artwork.

Aunty Gayle Rankine (1956 – 2019)

Aunty Gayle was a Ngarrindjeri woman born in Raukkan (Point McLeay Mission) on Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. She was a leading voice for Aboriginal people with disability and in 2014 was the founding Chairperson of the First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN).
Click here to see the full image and more information.
Black and white linocut print. In the foreground is a man wearing a striped polo-shirt. He has a big toothy smile. Behind him a small crowd of people, including two wearing police hats and people with cameras. They are looking down at two people lying together on a mattress in an intimate embrace, wrapped in a blanket.

“Honeymoon Protest” – Martin Stewart

This image is inspired by the Honeymoon protest (1988) of Martin Stewart and his then wife Helen. Martin is a disability activist and disabled workers rights advocate.
Click here to see the full image and more information.