Mala McAlpin Coinciding with both International Women’s Day and the release of a brand new moisturiser, Dermalogica has just launched their latest product campaign, showcasing a collaboration with female photography collective, Agender, in an effort to raise awareness around gender inequality in the photography industry.
The Dermalogica campaign images were shot by two of Agender’s photographers; Cybele Malinowski (co-founder) and Anna Pogossova, and features graphic artist Kitty Callaghan, designer Poppy Lissiman and model and artist Rachel Rutt.
The campaign was unveiling to media last Thursday evening, on the day of International Women’s Day. It depicted a series of photographs shot by gifted Agender female photographers and featuring three talented Australian women. On show alongside the series were other powerful female works of art, and of course the new product sharing the spotlight – Dermalogica Prisma Protect, a light-activated skin defence moisturiser – provided the perfect platform to ‘shed light’ on the issue of gender inequality.
Dermalogica hopes the campaign will bring awareness to the unconscious biases that exist in the photography industry, spark change and bring about parity between genders.
“Since 1983 Dermalogica’s mission has been to define and bring respect to the professional skin therapist. In an industry that is 98% female, this is a goal that is closely linked to gender equality. We know that when women succeed, everyone succeeds. It is with this purpose in mind that we aim to educate, innovate, and move the conversation forward. We envisage that this partnership will continue the shift towards true equality”, says Dermalogica Australia General Manager, Kristie Millgate.
“We’re a major sponsor of the Sydney Women’s Fund and we have been for the last four years, and they introduced us to [Agender] and felt that what they were trying to do and what we are as an organisation might gel well together. So we had a meeting and we basically highlighted the inequality in the creative industry, and also obviously lots of industries within Australia. So we put our thinking caps on, and thought about Jane Wurwand, our founder, and since 1983 she really has embarked on a journey of upping the professionalism within our industry. She also started an initiative quite some time ago called FITE (Financial Independence Through Entrepreneurship) and we felt that this collaboration was something that we could bring local here in Australia.”
“58.5% of photographers in Australia are female, and yet under 25% of agency represented photographers (who are booking the top industry jobs) are female” says Agender’s co-founder Angela Liang. “It’s absolutely no wonder that as girls growing up, all we’re fed is the male gaze.”
“Tonight, all we’re surrounded by tonight is the female gaze, we’ve got 22 amazing prodigious photographers across fashion, editorial, advertising, documentary, fine art…None of this could have happened without Dermalogica, and the amazing team behind Dermalogica. Agender is all about collaboration, it’s about making change. It’s not just about us standing up here making change or Dermalogica making change, it’s about the fact that everyone can make change, because the power to make change is in your hands.”
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