Ben Apfelbaum

WOMEN MARCHING : LIFE HATH NO FURY LIKE ANGRY WOMEN : JUST ASK SCOTT MORRISON

The sun shining and the lifting of Covid19 social distancing restrictions, meant that in Sydney more than 10,000 people came out to protest. The crowd was jam-packed from Park Street to Bathurst Street and into Sydney Square, beside the Town Hall. 

The crowd was mainly women, some from the baby boom era, some mothers marching with their daughters and a smattering of supportive men. 

The mood, reflected in some colourful placards, was rage and fury.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian indicated that she would have marched but was prevented from doing so by State Government business. There were conflicting reports as to whether Opposition Leader Jodi McKay attended. 

The march proceeded from Sydney Town Hall through Hyde Park to State Parliament House in Macquarie Street, where, in addition to the Sydney Square speeches, further rally cries were exclaimed.The only parliamentarian to was State Green’s MP Jenny Leong.

One hopes that these protests, held throughout Australia in relation to women’s safety, health and progress in the workplace and wider society, will lead to concrete and meaningful steps being taken.

All photos by Ben Apfelbaum

 

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.