If you don’t fight … you lose: politics, posters and PAM

Robert Boynes (1942–), Adelaide born, was a lecturer in art at Murray Park CAE and the South Australian School of Art (1964–1967; 1970–1977), and postgraduate student in film at Flinders University when he joined PAM. His paintings and prints produced at the time were critical of capitalism and patriarchal society.  Post PAM he was lecturer then Head of Painting at the School of Art, ANU (1978–2005). He is a senior artist with an active exhibiting profile, his work critiquing contemporary society is widely held in public and private collections.   

Andrew Hill AM (1952–) is an Adelaide-born artist and lecturer at the South Australian School of Art / Salisbury CAE, 1981–2014, and PAM member. Post PAM, Hill focused on community art, and the art and working life program in the Trade Union movement and the Multicultural Artworkers Committee.  Key multicultural exhibitions coordinated include Land of Promises (1982–1983), All our Working Lives (1983–1984) and A Bitter Song (1986–1988). Hill’s work is held in major national collections. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 2016 for services to education as an artist, to multiculturalism, and for innovative programs for young refugees.

Peter Mumford (1952–), Southampton (UK) born, was a PAM member while an Arts student at Flinders University. He was active in the Worker Student Alliance’s Trade Union protests. He worked with Pamela Harris in the Progressive Printers Alliance and in the Community Media Association running the printing unit and producing posters for a range of clients including the Rape Crisis Centre. Post PAM he moved into graphic design and stage design for Australian dance, theatre and opera companies.

Jim Cane (1944–), Adelaide born, attended the University of Adelaide (1964), the South Australian School of Art (1964–67), and the Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata (Calcutta) (1968). He was active in Adelaide’s Vietnam moratorium movement and radical circles, took the Politics and Art course, and was a PAM member. He produced cartoons for publications including Get Out magazine, and posters for a range of causes working with Empire Times printer Andrew McHugh. Post PAM he illustrated A Different Vison: A Real History of South Australia with Russell Porter (1980), and he wrote and illustrated a post-colonial history Australia: Lucky for Some (1986).   

Christine McCarthy (1952–), Adelaide born, attended the South Australian School of Art, studied printmaking with Barbara Hanrahan and enrolled in the Politics and Art course. She gained her Diploma in Fine Arts in 1976. She is known for her hand-coloured lino-cut prints of landscapes and native flora, highlighting the unique South Australian coastal vegetation.  McCarthy has exhibited regularly over the past three decades in Adelaide, interstate and internationally.  Her work has been acquired by private collectors and government institutions.  She is a former co-proprietor and co-director of The Ruth Tuck Art School. 

Ann Newmarch OAM (1945–2022), was an Adelaide-born feminist artist and lecturer at the South Australian School of Art  from 1968 to 2000. She co-founded, with Philosophy Professor Brian Medlin, the Politics and Art course at Flinders University in 1974, and Progressive Art Movement in the same year. Newmarch was a founding member of Adelaide’s Women’s Art Movement in 1976. She was an activist socio-political feminist artist focused on community art, and was a founding member of the Prospect Mural Group. Her work is held in major public collections. She was awarded an Order of Australia in 1986 for services to art.