Curated Selection: Representations of Gender

Inspired by our upcoming talk with Paul Kindersley, this week's Curated Selection focusses on artists who have explored representations of gender as part of their practice. Featuring: John Paul Evans, Madi Acharya-Baskerville, Thomas Griffiths, Natalie Ramus and Moira Lovell

After Gentileschi - Sleeping Venus, 2011 - 2012

John Paul Evans

‘Stilled Lives’ are a series of self-portraits that reference artworks from western history. The pinhole photographs need extended exposure, (usually 3-6 minutes) which requires the sitter to perform stasis for this primitive technology. Remaining still for prolonged periods is reminiscent of the life model’s role, becoming petrified in the temporal drift. Walter Benjamin believed that in early examples of photography, something akin to an ‘aura’ was captured through the long exposures necessary to record the images: “The procedure itself taught the models to live inside rather than outside the moment. During the long duration of these shots they grew as it were into the picture”. (Walter Benjamin – A Short History of Photography)

The Bride, 2015

Madi Acharya-Baskerville

Work inspired by found wood, random objects coming together in the female form.

Lockuh, 2019

Thomas Griffiths

A reimagined locker is slumped against a wall, the top door is ajar to peer inside. MDF, Plywood, Perspex, Cotton, Kindle, Football Kit, Grinder, Socks, Spray paint, metal fixings.

Following IN//Footsteps OF (2nd iteration), 2019

Natalie Ramus

This was a second iteration/reworking/exploration of the work Following IN//Footsteps OF (first born at Tempting Failure Festival of Noise and Performance 2018) which was shared as part of the Oxytocin - Mothering the World Symposium at Kings College London in 2019 produced by Procreate Project in collaboration with Birth Rites Collection. https://www.oxytocinbirthingtheworld.co.uk This was a 3 hour durational performance. Materials: 90 eggs, a pair of shoes, a milk bottle filled with milk and suspended from vagina, multiple black silk sutures. MY BODY IS NOT CURRENCY, NOR IS IT AN OBJECT TO BE OWNED OR PASSED FROM MAN TO MAN. MY BODY IS FLUID, AND WILD, AND ONE WITH THE TIDES OF THE MOON. Following IN//Footsteps OF is an attempt to reclaim space and time through acts of precarious tenderness, in an extended moment of rupture. Symbolic objects become conduits for connection with a disrupted experience of domesticity. Threads that pass through the surface of the skin allow for the body to extend beyond here and now. This installACTION questions the role of the female and all that encompasses; roles of mother, sister, daughter are societal constructs with given rules and expectations of both behaviour and fertile purpose. Following IN//Footsteps OF aims to expose the weight of these expectations, whilst also dismantling them. Through destruction comes creation, and so this space will allow for a reconsideration through actions of resistance.

White Off the Shoulder Bodycon Dress, 2019

Moira Lovell

From the series Modelling Selfies (in paper outfits).