Keeping things together

OCT 2025 RELEASE

Keeping things together: 50 years of the Women’s Art Register explores the archive of the Women’s Art Register (W.A.R.) and the diverse contexts shaping its 50-year contribution to Australian culture.

The publication takes the form of a dynamic, polyvocal anthology that brings together new writing and creative works with a range of archival material. It comprises long-form texts by art historians, curators, educators, artists and memory workers, alongside visual and written responses by contemporary Australian artists.

Keeping things together is both an expansion on and critical assessment of W.A.R. and its legacy as a long-standing community archive safekeeping the documentation of over 5,000 Australian women artists (and counting!).

Containing stories and ephemera that have not been widely shared before, the publication highlights the value of the archive and the alternative histories it preserves, and sheds light on the collaborative spirit that has ensured W.A.R.’s continued existence.

Importantly, Keeping things together rethinks how knowledge is passed down through structures of culture and learning by examining the legacy of 1970s feminist art in Australia, and the relevance of archives for artists today. The publication, like W.A.R, aims to ensure that marginalised voices are heard and that hidden or seemingly lost knowledges are recovered.

Contributors: Carla Abate, Diana Baker Smith, Sofi Basseghi, Catherine Bell, Sophia Cai, Anna Daly, Bonita Ely, Gail Harradine, Maya Hodge, Alison Inglis, Sahra Martin, Juliette Peers, Caroline Phillips, Merren Ricketson, Lisa Roberts, Meredith Rogers, Bea Rubio-Gabriel, Anna Sande, Ema Shin, Nur Shkembi, Peta Tait, Ellie Thomas, Nat Thomas, Azza Zein.

248 pages, 22.8 x 30 cm, softcover.