Untitled (woman doing canning demonstration) 1957

Curator: This photograph by Ken Whitmire Associates captures a canning demonstration. What does this image evoke in you? Editor: It feels very mid-century, with that "1957 Annual Canning School" banner, and the audience looks predominantly female. What's the significance of portraying this traditionally gendered domestic scene? Curator: Precisely. Consider the post-war context, where women were often pushed back into domestic roles. This canning demo, seemingly innocuous, reinforces those societal expectations. It reflects a time when self-sufficiency through traditionally female labour was both a necessity and a cultural expectation. How does that sit with you? Editor: It's a little unsettling, seeing domesticity so overtly presented as a school, almost prescriptive. I wonder how the women felt about it. Curator: Exactly! It's a seemingly simple image that reveals complex social dynamics of the time.