An investigation of graphic works from the past, and the creation of new artworks, to visualise a reimagined female future.

Exhibited: Cross Art Projects Sydney 2021; Counihan Gallery Melbourne, 2021; Gallery 25, Edith Cowan University, 2022; and Rusten House Art Centre, Queanbeyan 2022.
Funding support: The Gender Institute, Australian National University
Acknowledgements: The original authors and artists of the ephemera reproduced in this project are gratefully acknowledged. Noel Butlin Archives, Menzies Library, ANU ephemera collection.

STILL WAITING FOR TOMORROW is a practice-led creative research project which, by analysing artwork printed onto twentieth century ephemera, enlivens the history of women’s activism to imagine an optimistic and resilient future. Graphics embedded onto printed ephemera during times of social change provide valuable visual insights into how women agitated for change and put forward new ideas regarding what a positive future may look like. As we look at a world facing climate-induced catastrophe, global pandemics and weakening democratic processes, all of which negatively impact upon women, it is important to share these cultural products, recontextualised through contemporary art, as tools and templates for change.

The research for Still Waiting for Tomorrow was funded by the Gender Institute, Australian National University. The material for the project was found at the Noel Butlin Archive, Menzies Library, ANU and the Ephemera Collection, National Library of Australia.

The original authors and artists of the material used in this project are gratefully acknowledged.

A New Deal for Women (in a post-pandemic world)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1944

Aborigines Win One Human Right! (Voice to Parliament Now)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. A-194-4 1947

Are Women Paid Men’s Rates (Not Yet)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1943

Australian Trade Union Policy
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1941

Every Woman
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/32 1954

Militant Women’s Movement of Australia (Remain Vigilant)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/18 1929

The Living Daylights (What’s new in 2021)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1974

The Living Daylights (What’s new in 2021)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1974

Union of Australian Women (March4Justice)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/32 1951

Our Women (Continue the Struggle for All Women)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/18 1963

Women in Our New World
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/18 1947

For the Rights of Women (Seven Decades of Struggle)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1980

Woman Today (Dole Rate Must Rise)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/25 1936

What Every Woman Should Know (Why Men Should Listen)
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. P119/6 1971

Women on the Job: A Communist View
Noel Butlin Archives, ANU. Z267/18 1973