Rhonda Wilson MBE (17 August 1953 – 6 November 2014) was a women's activist, photographer, writer, editor, and educator in British contemporary photography, best known for her initiation of the Rhubarb-Rhubarb International Festival of the Image.
As it did for Peter Kennard, the format of the poster combined Wilson's skills for political purpose; she was the author of a poster illustrated with a photograph by Richard Cross, for two photographic exhibitions Two Faces of War, of Central America by John Hoadland and Richard Cross, and Nicaragua by Susan Meiselas shown at the Triangle Photography Gallery 4 February-1 March 1986.
[9]Wilson's career included involvement in Ten.8 magazine[10] where, by 1984, she had joined the editorial board and was responsible for the Ten.8 Touring program of travelling exhibitions supported by West Midland Arts from 1986.
", alongside Graham Budgett, Willie Doherty, Joy Gregory, Susan Hardy, Sylvia Harvey, David Hevey, Pervaise Khan, Eamonn McCabe, Gaby Porter, Juanito Waswhadi, Alan Sekula, and Deborah Willis at the National Photography Conference 21 to 23 July 1989 in Newcastle, a biennial event supported by the Arts Council.
[14][15][16] She and Ming de Nasty designed half-tone lineblock, black and purple posters in series A Sense of Place, addressing the subject of homeless women in Britain, based on an exhibition of photographs also entitled 'A Sense of Place',[17] held at the National Museum of Film and Photography, Bradford, as part of the Spectrum Women's Photography Festival, 1989.
Working internationally became integral to her photographic projects, developed as campaigns on social issues such as homeless women and unemployment which in the 1990s attracted the attention of overseas gallery curators, resulting in exhibitions in Europe, Australia and the USA.
[1]Wilson's major innovation were the courses in Survival Strategies and Professional Practice for practitioners with an emphasis on entrepreneurship, presented by guest lecturers who were curators, photographers and agents.
If this book, published by a University prominent in the visual arts field, is made required reading on all photography courses a gap will have been bridged.
There is a chapter giving very direct advice on how to charge for a job, one on finding sources for financing projects...[34]Wilson's book's success led to her founding her eponymous training and development agency at 212 The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Digbeth in 1991 when many of the more academic courses had still to address vocational outcomes.
[35] STL, which described itself as a ""training" organisation, using unconventional and adventurous strategies,"[36] ran for three years supported by her teaching before it finally attracted Arts Council money in 1995.
[37] Presenters included Sean Cubitt, Lola Young, Paul Brookes and Sylvia King, and a 'Cybercaff' with internet link ups, virtual galleries and online demonstrations was incorporated.
[42] The 1998 event again took place throughout the country and experts invited included: editorial and advertising photographer Colin Gray at Glasgow's Street Level Gallery; Head of Art Buying at DDB advertising agency in Paris Elaine Harris; Professor Paul Hill FRPS, MBE In Birmingham; artistic director of Photo '98 Anne McNeill in Huddersfield; Canadian artist Evergon at Zone Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne; photographers Fay Godwin and David Noble in Bedfordshire; documentary photographer Judah Passow at Leicester's Picture House; British Journal of Photography editor Reuel Golden at the BJP in London; and Exhibitions Officer Carol Sartain and Secretary General Barry Lane at the RPS in Bath.
In 2004 it was short listed for a World Trade Award - Small Business Category and celebrated contacts with new EC countries, including the raising of $32000 at a Rhubarb and Friends benefit auction for the Prague House of Photography, which lead to a grant for $564,000 from the Czech Dept of Culture for a new gallery opening in Spring 2006.
The following year, Wilson took leave for seven weeks to recuperate from a hip operation, to return during a time of debilitating cuts to arts funding and, anxious for the future of Rhubarb-Rhubarb and its team, she became ill with severe depression.
Despite her bid for non-profit organisation status for Rhubarb-Rhubarb being successful, without Wilson's leadership the company stagnated, the Arts Council withdrew funding, and it was subsequently dissolved.
Her husband John McQueen remembered; One of the last things she said to me recently was ‘If an image can hold you for a second, then take you on a journey somewhere secret, peaceful or magical or tell a story to the viewer, it's a true reflection of the person that made it’.