Summary

This image is one of five photographs of Vicki Violi at Coldstream taken by Tagen Baker on 11 August 2016 as part of The Invisible Farmer Project. The Invisible Farmer Project was the largest ever study of Australian women on the land, uncovering the histories and stories of Australian women in agriculture. It began as a pilot project (2015-2016) and evolved into a three year (2017-2020) nation-wide partnership between rural communities, academic, government and cultural organisations, funded by the Australian Research Council.

This particular image is a portrait of Vicki Violi at her farm in Coldstream.

Originally from Italy, Vicki Violi has called Victoria home for over 50 years. Since 1979, she has served as a co-owner and operator of a strawberry business in Coldstream: Golden Vale Strawberries. Their business has grown from a small strawberry farm of roughly 10,000 plants, to one that processes approximately 1.3 million strawberries. Vicki speaks passionately about sustainability, water issues, irrigation techniques, and farming practices.

Description of Content

Portrait of a woman wearing a pink scarf.

Physical Description

Digital colour photograph

Significance

As a visiting research associate for Museum Victoria, and a PhD student in Utah State University's Department of Environment and Society, Tagen Baker had the opportunity to explore the diverse landscape of Victoria and interview and photograph women farmers as part of The Invisible Farmer Project-to learn from them about their histories, responses to climate change, and how they adapted their agricultural practices to sustain themselves and their families. Tagen wanted to know how their experiences have been similar or different to women in her home state of Idaho, USA. How have women been key agents of change embedded in their environments? How do women farmers provide unique perspectives and contributions to the futures of agriculture and to their communities?

As part of her research process, Tagen asked several women farmers if she could photograph them with an item of value. This item opened up a unique opportunity to communicate and learn about the farmers' lives. The item chosen was not only symbolic as a physical item of value, tangible and necessary, but a portal into a storytelling journey, a symbol of their rich and unique life experiences.

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