Lady Hercules (2023)
Digital print on PVC, thread, banding, eyelets, glue, PU foam, tape
Image sourced from the George Grantham Bain Collection
Clench (2024)
Digital print on velvet, galvanised steel, thread
Image sourced from the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art collection
This exhibition examines feminine strength, fragility and the nature of performance. Posed torsos are woven into soft sculptures that ripple and slump. These pieces are adorned with archival images of strongwomen performers. The pliable and comforting nature of the material is juxtaposed with the strength and solidity of the women. Their toned bodies echo the musculature of neo-classical (male) figures, however with the presence of corsetry and draped toile a surreal dimension is added. The talented Katie Sandwina and Charmion performed across America during the turn of the 20th century.
Spectacle (2023-24)
Resin, pigment
Sports and athletic performance present the potential for spectacle, for theatre, and for an audience to be in awe of what the body is capable of. This exhibition is not only about performance but its reception, the methods, and situations through which one observes another. This is addressed through a series of delicate rose-tinted opera glasses.
Opinions from a newspaper review are extracted from sheet metal. These observations refer to Sandwina’s performances, with the text melting into the steel surface, creating a viscous poetry.
Shapely (2023)
Steel
The gallery's large window is another lens through which to encounter the work, from the street. In turn the space becomes a kind of stage, a tableau vivant (living picture) – a melding between photographed and live bodies, performer and audience, power and vulnerability.
Soft Furnishings exhibition view