A short artist profile on my work ‘Skin and flesh’ features in Matter Matters: Surfaces, Antennae The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture, issue no. 43. Here’s some screen shots – the article can be freely downloaded here http://www.antennae.org.uk/
First work in progress test casts. As part of my new propositional sculpture installation bloodlines – I’m starting to test out various molds for swatches of fanciful ‘skins’. These ones feature suckers, valves and scales. The suckers casts are double-dipping for my new research into octopuses, using the teats/nipple molds from boobscape to create the mold (I have some larger ones in progress).
Really love the design of this full cover – with boobscape wrapping around the spine. I’m very excited for this book to be launched at Animaladies II, University of Wollongong, in December 2018, where I’ll also be an invited speaker – talking about my propositional new artwork: ‘porous boundaries: mammalian motherhood, biotechnologies and other entanglements’ which will be published in the Animal Studies Journal later in the year (hopefully). This book features an amazing line up of writings by scholars, artists, creative writers etc. See: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/animaladies-9781501342165/ for the table of contents.
Just finished up an article writing about my propositional large scale installation. One day I hope to install it – but it requires a lot of wall and ceiling space.
Abstract: This paper outlines my current sculptural research project in which the lives and deaths of dairy cows are entangled with multiple biotechnologies. My propositional sculptural installation brings together extant works such as fleshlumps, boobscape and slink, and new works, to represent the dairy industry, multi species nurturing, the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and the biotech innovations of in-vitro meat and bio-fabricated leather. These works are linked together by a web of interconnected fluids; urine, milk and blood. In this new work I hope to make the links between the diary industry and these extended concerns visible and visceral.
Top row left to right: meat flaps, wax, pigment, hoop. hairy hoop latex, hair, hoop. little hoop, latex and hoop. hairy hoop II, latex, hair, hoop. leaky hoop, latex, string, hoop. battle of the cxxt (under my skin), newspaper clippings from 16/17 June 2018, latex
A number of small works made for the vulva project, curated by Rebeka Axon. meat flaps is made from previous fleshlumps. The latex vulvas are made from boobscape udder pieces. battle of the cxxt (under my skin) was made in response to the recent rape and death in Melbourne, and the surrounding debates about women’s freedom of movement, men’s curfews etc. The text was deliberately taken from other headlines from the weekends paper, with only one clipping referencing the actual incident. It is a low tech cut and paste, embedded in a latex skin, as the latex ages and yellows the words will be obscured.
My new work is focusing on the relationships between the dairy industry (boobscape), the collection of ‘co-products’ such as foetal-bovine serum, placental tissues, slink leather from foetal bodies (slink), the demand of these foetal tissue and blood products in cellular technology in particular in-vitro meat and bio-fabricated leather. Using my pre-existing sculptures, and new forms, I will trace the connections between these industries, as well as continue my focus on the broader environmental impact of the dairy industry, in particular the leaching of excess nutrients into the waterways/water table.
Just started work on re-purposing some existing sculptures. Using the skins from boobscape – inverting breasts and teats, to create some small wall sculptures for the Vulva Project, curated by artist Rebeka Axon. It’s an interesting process, and very much a homage to those feminist precursors – it’s been almost 30 years since I first started teaching visual art / art history – and I remember the difficulties (pre-internet) of finding and incorporating the ‘cunt art’ of the 1970s such as the amazing Hannah Wilke’s – S.O.S. – Starification Object Series. 1974-82, and of course Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party.
Using the skins from these works, for me, brings the material meanings of slink and boobscape into this work, and further entangles those maternal material bodies.
