Curatorial Statement
2023
Crossroads and Convergences showcases eight artists currently living and making on or near Boorloo/Perth. With these artists working across disciplines of paint, print, drawing, installation, video, sculpture and photography, my curatorial rationale has been to inquire of (and present) shared themes that bring these works together as a cohesive whole. Initially, there was no overtly overarching media or style, however, speaking with the artists and engaging with their works quickly revealed there was much mutuality to discover. Each artist, in their own unique way, explored the notion of ‘intersection’ through a range of cultural, social and material interpretations.
Each ‘intersection’ (or ∩*) explored by the artists—whether it be Patricia Amorim (culture ∩ gender), Isaac Huggins (high-art ∩ low-art), Aliesha King (mind ∩ body), Xue Li (Eastern art canon ∩ Western art canon), Conor MacGrath (virtual ∩ physical), Charlotte Robinson (decorative design ∩ painted landscapes), Xinwei Xu (temporality ∩ materiality), or Jane Whelan (memory ∩ place)—offers the opportunity to navigate the crossroads and convergences (to explore the intersections between these intersections) that emerge within the gallery space.
It was a privilege to be invited to curate this exhibition, and I conclude by encouraging viewers to spend time with the artworks as they discover their own intersections to explore.
* for efficiency, I borrow from ‘set theory’ where the intersection between elements is denoted by ‘∩’.
Artist Statement
My project DUPLO Series uses digitally manipulated photography to investigate emerging possibilities for identity formation as perceived through the social construction of gendered bodies. This project considers how my cultural identity and status as a feminist and a Brazilian artist influence my artistic output and how I perceive gendered bodies in a cross-cultural setting. My studio practice is predominantly based on digital photography, partnered with Adobe Photoshop, with a feminist focus on the gendered body. In addition, I project photographs selected from my digital photographic collection of affective memory, which I have been continually developing since 2008, onto clothed gendered bodies. These bodies are re-signified by being re-inscribed by these images.
