Helen Ennis is an Australian photography curator, historian, and writer, expert on Australian photography history through a career in curatorial work, academic research and teaching, and biographical writing, with contributions that contextualise photography in broader Australian visual cultures, society and history.
After completing a BA (Hons) in visual arts at Monash University, Ennis joined the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in 1981 as an assistant curator in the Department of Photography. She was promoted to Curator of International and Australian Photography in 1985, a position she held until 1992. During her tenure, she curated influential exhibitions, such as 'Australian Photography: The 1980s ' (1988), and delivered research and texts for major publications including 'Shades of Light – Photography and Australia 1839-1988 '. Her curatorial efforts were instrumental in shaping the NGA’s photographic collections and fostering scholarly discourse on contemporary Australian photography.
Following her time at the NGA, Ennis was an art critic on The Canberra Times and established herself as an independent curator and writer specialising in Australian photographic practice and biography. Her work covered themes such as multiculturalism, identity, and the intersection of photography with broader social narratives. Notable projects include essays for exhibitions like Sue Ford’s 'From Van Diemen’s Land to Video Land ' (1993) and her groundbreaking biography 'Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography ' (2005), which won multiple literary awards.
Ennis joined the Australian National University (ANU) School of Art & Design in 1996 as a lecturer in Art Theory, becoming a professor in 2014. She served as Director of the Centre of Art History and Art Theory and held the Sir William Dobell Chair of Art History from 2014 to 2018. Her academic work emphasised critical approaches to photography history, advocating for diverse methodologies and reflexive interpretations. Key publications during this period include 'Photography and Australia ' (2007) and 'Reveries: Photography & Mortality ' (2007), which examined themes of realism, mortality, and colonial influences on Australian photography.
Ennis curated several landmark exhibitions for major cultural institutions:
'Mirror with a Memory: Photographic Portraiture in Australia ' (National Portrait Gallery, 2000)
Retrospective exhibitions on Olive Cotton (Art Gallery of NSW, 2000) and Margaret Michaelis (National Gallery of Australia, 2005)
'A Modern Vision: Charles Bayliss, Photographer, 1850-1897 ' (National Library of Australia, 2008)
'Things: Photographing the Constructed World ' (National Library of Australia, 2012)
Ennis has been recognised for her contributions to photography criticism and history: – Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction (2006) for 'Margaret Michaelis: Love, Loss and Photography ' – Magarey Medal for Biography (2020) for 'Olive Cotton: A Life in Photography ' – J Dudley Johnston Award/Medal from the Royal Photographic Society (2021) for excellence in photographic criticism.
She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2014.
- Writers:
-
James McArdle
- Date written:
- 2025
- Last updated:
- 2025
