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CONTEMPORARY AUSTRALIA: WOMEN

Anne Kirker
Eyeline 77
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Mid-way through the three month period of this major exhibition, psychologist Christine Lee addressed a packed auditorium on the topic of ‘sex and science: what’s the gender question?’ This is a loaded question given the huge variability between the gender status of women and men, not to mention their sexual preferences, and understandably twitter feedback was vigorous. By way of conclusion, Lee made the claim that ‘Feminism is about freeing people up to be authentic beings’; a generous remark and one to which no one could disagree. The audience was not all female, a fact true of the exhibition audience too. On my visits male gallery-goers appeared comfortable and appreciative of the imagery by women and, probably, this was because the days have gone when impassioned declarations of womanhood were de rigueur. Not that ‘Contemporary Australia: Women’ is polite; rather it is strategic in its diversity, covering all bases. I saw it on several occasions, testing my reactions to the thirty-three individual artists and collectives and the more than seventy new and recent works.

For this article, I decided to respond to those exhibits by artists who, given this opportunity to shine in company with their own, stretched themselves to produce surprising installations, paintings, and film work. They jolted me into a fresh awareness of what feminism in the visual arts is about today. On the strength of this show, contemporary female practice entails work that employs bricolage and collage, appropriates from art history and popular culture, shows a commitment to fine detail and craftsmanship, enjoys artistic collaborations, is both cosmopolitan in context and rural, seeks states of transcendence, and, when political content is present, it is not strident... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline

Deborah Kelly, Beastliness, 2011. Still. Digital animation shown as HD projection, DVD, 16:9, colour, sound, 3:17 mins, ed. 2/8. Animation: Christian Heinrich and Chris Wilson. Original score written and produced by Brutal Poodles. Audio mastering: Steve Smart. Purchased 2011, Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. Collection The Queensland Art Gallery.

Deborah Kelly, Beastliness, 2011. Still. Digital animation shown as HD projection, DVD, 16:9, colour, sound, 3:17 mins, ed. 2/8. Animation: Christian Heinrich and Chris Wilson. Original score written and produced by Brutal Poodles. Audio mastering: Steve Smart. Purchased 2011, Queensland Art Gallery Foundation. Collection The Queensland Art Gallery.

Deborah Kelly, The Miracles, 2012. Installation view. Photography Natasha Harth.

Deborah Kelly, The Miracles, 2012. Installation view. Photography Natasha Harth.