Stone baby: An exploration of affect and trauma in visual art

Stone Baby: An Exploration of Affect and Trauma in Visual Art was held at the Block, QUT Creative Industries Precinct on August 27-28, 2014. At the conclusion of my Masters project, this exhibition was a showcase of the outcomes of my material and digital explorations in the form of installation, sculpture and film. My primary motivation can be described as a relational and ethical attempt to find a balance between the erotic and the aggressive. This is experienced in the self as feelings of attraction and repulsion in response to the new and unknown "other". Consequently creative practice is necessarily a complex affair that is experienced as a completely immersive and self-contained psychological space. It is within this space that both physical sensation and raw emotion are able to tangibly and conceptually interact with psychoanalytic theory, and concrete materials video and sound.

Quaternary [Guest Curator]

The curated exhibition, 'Quaternary' was held at the QUT Art Museum in 2015. Dr Courtney Pedersen was the guest curator. The aim of this curatorial project was to identify and analyse the work of a selection of women artists whose practices utilise the affective power of colour in compelling ways.Taking its cue from the Australian artist Thea Proctor's claim in 1938 that women artists make better colourists, the exhibition explored the enduring nature of this perception by presenting a range of contrasting approaches to colour. 'Quaternary' was the second iteration of QUT's triennial exhibition series, which explores the University's open-studio, cross-disciplinary approach to studying art. The artists include: Bianca Beetson, Chantal Fraser, Rachael Haynes, Natalya Hughes, Alice Lang, Gemma Smith, and Jemima Wyman.

Warning constraint limit experience

'Warning constraint limit experience' is an installation comprising drawings, a large scale fabric work, and a performative video. This work explores the performative act of drawing and the limits of language and subjectivity. The fabric work acts as a bodily extension that both facilitates and constrains movement during the drawing process and operates as a provisional structure for viewing the work in the gallery. This work was developed and presented at The Lock-Up Cultural Centre, Newcastle NSW in 2011 and revised for the solo exhibition ‘I build my dwelling’, held at Metro Arts in 2012.

Language is, language is not

‘Language is, Language is not’ is an installation comprising wall drawings, a fabric drawing prosthetic, performance and digital video. This work investigates ‘redrawing’ as a revisionist feminist strategy, taking as it’s starting point Mel Bochner’s work ‘Language is not Transparent’ (1970). 'Language is, Language is not' functions as both homage and critique, drawing on the legacy of conceptual art and questioning the engendering of language that it implies. This work was developed and presented for Bus Projects, Melbourne in 2012, and subsequent versions exhibited at Screen Space, Melbourne and Metro Arts Galleries, Brisbane.

Muscle flex

'Muscleflex' is an installation comprising large scale fabric works, wall drawings, performance and digital video. The large-scale fabric works act as bodily extensions for two performers and constrain movement during the drawing process. These drawing performances are documented and re-presented as digital video works. This work examines the limits of language and subjectivity and offers a feminist engagement with the history of abstract painting. 'Muscle flex' was developed and presented for KINGS Artist Run Gallery, Melbourne in 2012 and revised for the exhibition 'I build my dwelling', at Metro Arts Galleries, Brisbane in 2012.

Re-inventing the f word - it's feminism!

This article discusses approaches to feminist art practice by early career Australian women artists in the context of 'Contemporary Australia: Women', an exhibition held at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), Brisbane in 2012.

15 Artists 2014

15 Artists 2014 was a group exhibition of 2D and 3D works held at the Redcliffe City Art Gallery between October 23 - December 6, 2014. My contribution to the group show was a collective series of 10 soft sculptures entitled Organs Without Bodies. These works were composed of latex, plaster, wool, thread, wax and rosin. I seek through my art practice to transform bodily affect into concrete knowledge. My primary motivation can be described as a relational and ethical attempt to find balance between the erotic and the aggressive. These objects are outcomes from an ongoing creative meditation of the simultaneity of dichotomies: inside and outside, cognition and emotion, past and present, connection and differentiation, the erotic and the aggressive. Each of these can be perceived separately with a penetrating focus of attention, yet all are contained within the 'space' of an expansive bodily-felt sense of awareness.

What's in a name - Catherine or Kate?

This paper discusses the art practice of Australian artists Catherine Sagin and Kate Woodcroft, who have been working collaboratively under various monikers since 2008. The duo define their artworks in terms of winning and losing, and play out the division of labour in an artistic practice that employs video, performance, photography and sculpture. Catherine or Kate utilise combative and comparative processes, which challenge notions of artistic collaboration and highlight the inherent tensions and competitive nature of working together.

A big idea transmitted pathetically

'A big idea transmitted pathetically' was an exhibition comprising a series of drawing works. These works employ a feminist engagement with the ‘big ideas’ of conceptual art, and enact a ‘redrawing’ of these texts to replay and reveal the complexities of gender politics, representation and language. These works were developed and presented for Bus Projects, Melbourne in 2012.

Superlinear

Superlinear was a group exhibition of 2D and 3D works curated by Jenna Baldock. This exhibition was held at Spiro Grace Art Rooms from June 11 - July 4, 2015. My contribution to the group show was a harmonograph (drawing machine) entitled The Forces of the Earth and two digitally edited drawings (enlarged and printed) that were originally produced on the harmonograph. The work inherently explores the movement and gesture of line independent from the human body, although not abstract from experience. My work discusses the experience of the body, more specifically my body; the pulsing of circulation; the rhythm of breathing; the twitching and trembling of muscles; the sound of the nervous system ringing in my ears. The pendulation of the line in motion corresponds to the body's extension into the world and the constant flow of energy; the weight of gravity, centripetal and centrifugal forces, and orbital oscillations. As the line dances acros the page the harmonograph parallels these peripheral sensations beyond the body.

I build my dwelling

'I build my dwelling' was an exhibition of works including ‘Muscle flex’, ‘Language is, Language is not’, ‘S.O.S’ and the ‘Studio Remix’, held at Metro Arts Galleries, Brisbane in 2012. This body of work pursues a feminist engagement with art history and philosophy, engaging with pictorial, literary and vernacular quotations in order to replay and reveal the complexities of gender politics, representation and language.