C. Moore Hardy

Hardy was born in Darlinghurst in 1955,{{cite web|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/497911|title=Hardy, C. Moore (1955-)|work=Trove|publisher=National Library of Australia|accessdate=15 January 2018}} to a Lebanese father and an Irish Pharmacist mother. As a child she was given a Brownie camera by her father as a gift.{{cite web|title=Benedict Brook, Community Hero: C.Moore Hardy|date= 21 August 2015|url= http://www.starobserver.com.au/features/community-spotlight/community-hero-c-moore-hardy/140054|accessdate=19 September 2017}} Raised in a Catholic family and going to Brigidine College Randwick, High school for girls,{{cite web|title=55Uppity: C.Moore Hardy|date= 6 October 2015|url= https://55upitty.com/2015/10/06/c-moore-hardy/|accessdate=19 September 2017}} informed her social conscience.

After studying nursing at Prince of Wales/Prince Henry Hospitals, Hardy worked part time until she set up her photographic studio (Starfish Studio) in Clovelly. She completed art school studies at National Art School, Darlinghurst: College Of Fine Arts, Paddington: & Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, before setting up Starfish Studio.

{{cite web|title=Benedict Brook, Community Hero: C.Moore Hardy|date= 21 August 2015|url= http://www.starobserver.com.au/features/community-spotlight/community-hero-c-moore-hardy/140054|accessdate=19 September 2017}} studying at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney (1986-?), Hardy also studied Arts Management at UTS Ultimo, as a post graduate subject, but to make ends meet she continued nursing until setting up Starfish Studio.

Hardy's involvement in a broad range of social causes from the late 1970s, saw her start to photograph those movements, she later noted:

“I was involved in all kinds of politics from those days – women’s rights, animal rights, anti-nuclear, conservation, our natural heritage, gay and lesbian rights. I care deeply about the society I live in.”{{cite web|title=55Uppity: C.Moore Hardy|date= 6 October 2015|url= https://55upitty.com/2015/10/06/c-moore-hardy/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

In July 1979 Hardy's work was featured on the cover of the first edition of the gay and lesbian community newspaper the Star Observer.O’Grady, Dominic. "July 1979 : a star is born." Star Observer, August 2014: 12. Working for the Star Observer Hardy became increasingly involved in the gay and lesbian community, and from the mid-1980s this significantly expanded with the increasing popularity and expansion of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, which became a key focus of her work documenting in the community. She was also increasingly drawn to minorities within the LGBTI community – trans* people, Indigenous community members and lesbians [http://www.starobserver.com.au/features/community-spotlight/community-hero-c-moore-hardy/140054] – who weren't being as avidly captured by other documentary photographers as gay men.

From the 1980s to the 2010s Hardy has combined her community and professional photographic practice with her work as a Registered Nurse and Clinical Coordinator, including roles at the (Prince of Wales Hospital (Sydney), Prince Henry Hospital, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and St Vincent's Hospital.{{cite web|title=C.Moore Hardy LinkedIn Profile|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/cmoorehardyphtographer/|accessdate=8 November 2017}} Her community photographic practice extended to voluntary cultural development positions for lesbian and gay community groups, including the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Sydney Pride Centre, AIDS Council of New South Wales (ACON) and the Sydney Gay Games Bid.

In 1994, Hardy, along with partner Martien Coucke produced the ‘1994 Lesbian Calendar’, (with an accompanying set of 8 postcards) featuring portraits from the calendar.

2024: Queer contemporary: C.Moore Hardy: Life in Black, White and Pink, National Art School.[https://nas.edu.au/c-moore-hardy-life-in-black-white-and-pink/]

2016: Sydney, Sex & Subculture (historical, hysterical, & happy recollections of the queer community) , Brenda May Gallery, 2 Danks Street, Waterloo, Sydney, 20 February- XMarch 2016{{cite web|title=What's on, The Northern Star|url=https://www.northernstar.com.au/whats-on/c-moore-hardy-sydney-sex-and-subculture/97161/|accessdate=19 September 2017|archive-date=8 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108093755/https://www.northernstar.com.au/whats-on/c-moore-hardy-sydney-sex-and-subculture/97161/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=On show: Mardi Gras photography exhibitions, The Sydney Morning Herald|date=4 March 2016 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/clique/on-show-mardi-gras-photography-exhibitions-20160216-gmvls6.html|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

2015: Happy Mardi Gras! Photographic Exhibition, Surry Hills Library, 3 February – 27 March 2015{{cite web|title=FBi Radio, 10 ways to get your queer culture fix this Mardi Gras, 20 February 2015|date=20 February 2015 |url=https://fbiradio.com/10-ways-to-get-your-queer-culture-fix-this-mardi-gras/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}{{cite web|title=Kamdha Editor, Global and Gay the Mardi Gras Way, Sydney Obeserver, 20 Feb, 2015|date=20 February 2015 |url=https://www.sydneyobserver.com/2015/02/global-and-gay-the-mardi-gras-way/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}{{cite web|title=Xavier, Dirty Queer Guide : Mardi Gras 2015, 31 January 2015|url=http://dirtyqueermag.com/blog/2015/01/dirty-queer-guide-mardi-gras-2015/|accessdate=19 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115130620/http://dirtyqueermag.com/blog/2015/01/dirty-queer-guide-mardi-gras-2015/|archive-date=15 January 2018|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Mardi Gras 2015 Program Bursting With Passion, 17 December 2014|url=http://www.lotl.com/Events-Calendar/Mardi-Gras-2015-Program-Bursting-With-Passion-245/|accessdate=19 September 2017|archive-date=15 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115184751/http://www.lotl.com/Events-Calendar/Mardi-Gras-2015-Program-Bursting-With-Passion-245/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|title=Lionel, Sydney for Free in February, 30 January 2015|url=https://www.weekendnotes.com/sydney-free-february/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}“Opening the vaults, City of Sydney presents their collection of C. Moore Hardy’s two decades of documenting the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras with this photographic exhibition.”

2014: Danger Will Robinson, AirSpace Projects, Marrickville, Sydney, 27–29 June{{cite web|title= Danger Will Robinson, AirSpace Projects, Marrickville, Sydney, 27- 29 June 2014|date=15 June 2014 |url=https://airspaceprojects.com/2014/06/15/opening-invitation-danger-will-robinson/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

2014: We are family All Women Exhibition including Michele Aboud, Deborah Kelly, A.M. Laerkensen, rea, The Twilight Girls, Waded, Australian Centre for Photography, March–May 2014 curated by C. Moore Hardy

{{cite web|title=We Are Family Pozible Campaign|url=https://pozible.com/project/174000|accessdate=19 September 2017}}Haley, Rochelle. "The ACP files: Autumn and Winter 2014. " Photofile, No. 95, Spring/Summer 2014-2015: 90-95.{{cite web|title=Merryn Stanger, Review : We Are Family|date=2 June 2014 |url=https://artwriteissue55.wordpress.com/art-reviewed/500-2/we-are-family/|accessdate=19 September 2017}} Along with education online support by Phillipa Playford.

2013: Bookish, Marrickville Garage, Marrickville, Sydney, October

the exhibition featured the work of artists: Paul Borderi + Jane Polkinghorne; Rowan Conroy; Mitchel Cummings;Ryszard Dabek;Sarah Goffman, Peter Jackson, and Jane Polkinghorne; C.Moore Hardy; Andrew Hazewinkel; Bronia Iwanczak; Anne Kay; Emma Lindsay; Peter Nelson; Elvis Richardson; and Elizabeth Wild

{{cite web|title=Bookish, Marrickville, Sydney, October|date=29 September 2013 |url=https://marrickvillegarage.com/2013/09/29/october-projects-2013/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

2013: Mardi Gras Museum Exhibition, cnr Oxford and Palmer Streets, Darlinghurst, 30 January-3 March 2013{{cite web|title=Jasmine Crittenden, The Ten Best Things to Do at Sydney Mardi Gras, 8 February 2013|date=8 February 2013 |url=https://concreteplayground.com/sydney/arts-entertainment/culture/the-ten-best-things-to-do-at-sydney-mardi-gras/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

1997: Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Sydney, 25 July-23 August 1997{{cite web|title=1997 Leica/CCP Documentary Photography Award|url=http://www.ccp.org.au/exhibitions.php?f=19970823_Gallery_1|accessdate=19 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319193925/http://www.ccp.org.au/exhibitions.php?f=19970823_Gallery_1|archive-date=19 March 2017|url-status=dead}}

1994: Queerography, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 9 February-5 March 1994{{cite web|title=Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery Exhibition Schedule 1994|url=https://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/exhibitions/schedules/1994/|accessdate=15 June 2019}}

1989: A fundamental attack, an exhibition of lesbian and gay art, Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries, presented in conjunction with Sydney Gay Mardi Gras, 31 January -23 February, curated by Catherine M. Phillips --

Hardy’s work features in various publications, selected titles include:

• Sydney Gay Mardi Gras in association with Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries presents : a fundamental attack, an exhibition of lesbian and gay art, January 31-February 23, 1989 / curated by Catherine M. Phillips (East Sydney : Holdsworth Contemporary Galleries, 1989)
• David Phillips, What's so queer here? : Photography at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Eyeline, n.29, Summer 1994 (West End, Qld. : Queensland Artworkers Alliance) {{ISSN|0818-8734}}
• Lesbian Art : an Encounter with power / Elizabeth Ashburn (Roseville East, NSW : Craftsman House, c1996) {{ISBN|9766410763}}
• Stephanie Britton, Image Bank: The Feminist Project, Artlink, March 1994 (Semaphore, SA. : Artlink) {{ISSN|0727-1239}}
• Sex in public : Australian sexual cultures / edited by Jill Julius Matthews (St. Leonards, NSW: Australia : Allen & Unwin, 1997) {{ISBN|1864480491}}
• Mardi gras! : true stories / edited by Richard Wherrett (Ringwood, Vic. : Penguin Books Australia, 1999) {{ISBN|0140272267}}
• ‘The manifestation of queer theology: the act of ‘promulgating universal joy and expiating stigmatic guilt’ through the (re)inscription of rituals, artefacts, devotional practices and place’ by Jason Prior, in Handbook of new religions and cultural production / Carole M. Cusack and Alex Norman (Leiden : Brill Biggleswade Extenza Turpin, 2012) {{ISBN|9789004221871}}
• Reveries : photography & mortality / Helen Ennis (Canberra, A.C.T. : National Portrait Gallery, c2007) {{ISBN|0977576108}}
• We are Family : Michele Aboud, Deborah Kelly, A.M. Laerkensen, rea, The Twilight Girls, Waded / curator C. Moore Hardy ([Paddington, NSW] : Boccalatte, [2014]) {{ISBN|9780980631241}}

Hardy's work is held in many institutions, most notably the Australian Queer Archives, who hold over 5000 works, the City of Sydney Archives, who hold 4,120+ images;{{cite web|title=ArchivePix, The City of Sydney Archives digital photograph bank|url=http://www.photosau.com.au/Cos/scripts/home.asp|accessdate=19 September 2017|archive-date=6 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006073002/http://photosau.com.au/cos/scripts/home.asp|url-status=dead}} as well as the National Library of Australia,{{cite web|title=National Library of Australia Catalogue|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/|accessdate=19 September 2017}} Griffith University Art Museum,{{cite web|title=Griffith University Art Collection Catalogue|url=https://www.griffith.edu.au/art-museum/collection|accessdate=1 July 2020}}

and State Library of New South Wales.{{cite web|title=State Library of New South Wales Catalogue|date=August 2017 |url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/research-and-collections/|accessdate=19 September 2017}}

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Category:Australian LGBTQ photographers

Category:Lesbian photographers

Category:Australian lesbian artists

Category:1955 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Australian LGBTQ people

Category:Australian people of Lebanese descent

Category:Australian people of Irish descent

Category:21st-century Australian women photographers

Category:21st-century Australian photographers