Book chapters by Louise R Mayhew
Collaborative Art in the Twenty-First Century
"Literature on artistic collaboration commonly develops a typology for differentiating and discus... more "Literature on artistic collaboration commonly develops a typology for differentiating and discussing diverse collective and collaborative practices. Within this system the family group or artist couple is frequently identified. Collaborative practices between siblings, in which an ongoing and established relationship predates artistic collaboration, should be considered in a similar vein. This paper discusses the contemporary practices of collaborating sisters in Australia, including: Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano, Match Box Projects, Soda_Jerk, The Sister Hayes and The Strutt Sisters,
These sister collectives have been carefully selected as demonstrative of a broad range of collective working practices: the desire to remove individual identity and signature style in favour of the presentation of one fused creative author; combining distinctive interests and educations into a single project; and divvying specific tasks amongst sisters according to personal talents resulting in exhibitions reminiscent of a group themed show. Whilst the subject matter, mediums and styles of these collectives vary dramatically from richly detailed embroidery and fun-filled video to bleak and deadpan film, handmade and experimental jewellery to minimal and professional performance; similarities are also evident in the recurring themes of childhood memories, nostalgia, time travel, doublings and mirror images.
All of the sister collectives are currently active; emerging or mid-career and recognised as such through gallery representation, inclusion in exhibitions, and/or successful receipt of grants and scholarships; however literature on and critical engagement with their work is decidedly lacking. The following paper addresses this gap and discusses sister collectives in terms of: reasons for working together; varying methods of conception, creation and the division of tasks; consideration of style, subject matter and medium; and identification of similarities and differences between the collectives.
"
Journal articles by Louise R Mayhew
Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach’s selection of Clark Beaumont, for the exhibition 13 Room... more Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenbach’s selection of Clark Beaumont, for the exhibition 13 Rooms (2013), prompted a murmur of surprise in the Australian art world. The artistic duo, formed by Sarah Clark and Nicole Beaumont, were largely unknown and had no experience in major exhibitions or endurance performance. However, their selection signposts a collaborative turn and the rise of artist girl gangs in contemporary Australian art. The following article discusses Clark Beaumont alongside five further groups: Alexandra Clapham and Penelope Benton, Hissy Fit, OK YEAH COOL GREAT, Show Us Your Teeth and zin. In keeping with methods of enquiry established by key collaborative theorists, I ask: ‘what motivates collaboration?’, ‘how is collaborative production understood and performed?’ and ‘what are the implications of group authorship?’ before turning to the final question: ‘what contextual circumstances are encouraging and nourishing the formation of artist girl gangs?’
The Women’s Warehouse (1979–1981) provided a short-lived and unofficial headquarters for the soci... more The Women’s Warehouse (1979–1981) provided a short-lived and unofficial headquarters for the social and cultural activity of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) in Sydney, Australia. This paper writes an introductory history to the Women’s Warehouse through the case study of the Women’s Warehouse Screenprinters, one of the most significant collectives to operate in the space. This approach allows for a focused understanding of how feminist ideologies were interpreted and implemented by members of the house via, for
example, collective ownership, group authorship, commitment to local community concerns and the non-sexist representation of women. The Women’s Warehouse was an unproclaimed, yet undeniably, lesbian feminist space. This paper begins research into the feminist politics, presentation and perception of the house.
Full paper available: http://www.fmk.singidunum.ac.rs/izdavastvo/art-media/
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2015
In Australia, women-only art collectives and collaborators have exploded in recent years. This re... more In Australia, women-only art collectives and collaborators have exploded in recent years. This return to collaboration coincides with renewed energy in the area of feminist debate and discussion and calls to mind a previous era of feminism and collectivism that flourished in the late 1970s. This article employs five influential women’s groups—The Kingpins, Gabriella Mangano and Silvana Mangano, Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont, Soda_Jerk and Brown Council—in order to discuss the characteristics of contemporary collaboration and identify feminist strategies in their work, noting how these continue, and depart from, an earlier generation of feminist collectives.
Full paper available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/r3MVxCaiKaxFXQxp7USA/full
Conference papers by Louise R Mayhew
Aesthetics, Politics and Histories: The Social Context of Art AAANZ Conference 2018, 2018
In 1997, a trio of ex-art students, Alex Murray-Leslie (Australia), Melissa Logan (USA) and Kiki ... more In 1997, a trio of ex-art students, Alex Murray-Leslie (Australia), Melissa Logan (USA) and Kiki Moorse (Germany), formed Chicks on Speed (COS). For the last 20 years, the shapeshifting collective has worked at the intersection of art, music, fashion and design, generating a raucous, DIY, performative pop practice. Across their experimentations, the Chicks’ bodies are hyper-present. This collective shape-shifting visibility stands in opposition to the hegemonic figures of the lone, male, genius from art history and his equally pernicious counterparts: the male gatekeeper of technology and the cock-rock superstar. Moreover, these bodies are fragmented, collaged and cloned, illustrating a denial of subjectivity as coherent, calling into question the singularities of the body as “origin, priority, or essence”.
As electroclash musicians, Chicks on Speed were at the forefront of a female-dominated turn in music, trashing up the dj scene with faux rock instruments and singing “we don’t play guitars”. Elisabeth Bridges argues that electronic music is suited to feminist politics for its horizontal, hybrid and non-narrative forms. In keeping with Bridges, in this paper I argue that COS’ authorial politics can equally be traced via a formal analysis of their visual phenomena, though I take a different route to achieve this end. Approaching COS from art history, it’s productive to situate them in the artistic context of relational aesthetics as articulated by Nicolas Bourriaud and famously critiqued by Claire Bishop. Using Donna Haraway and Sadie Plant, I stretch Bishop’s articulation of democracy as antagonism to account for a practice that is both fractured (emblematic of difference and diversity) and joyous, both porous and utopian.
Frances Phoenix (1950–2017) was a significant figure in Australia’s feminist and lesbian art hist... more Frances Phoenix (1950–2017) was a significant figure in Australia’s feminist and lesbian art histories. She participated in both Sydney’s and Adelaide’s Women’s Art Movements; contributed needlework, and opposition, to Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party; and spearheaded multiple collective and community art initiatives. Despite her contributions, Phoenix is not listed in Wikipedia and her entry in the DAAO (Design & Art Australia Online) is only two sentences long. In contrast to this, unforgivably, brief, biography, Phoenix diligently documented, archived and shared records of her own life. In Our Story/Herstory: Working on Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party, Phoenix captured the heart-wrenching fall-out of working for Chicago.1 At the State Library of South Australia, boxes of personal documentation traverse Phoenix’ clippings and note-taking in areas as diverse as Surrealist women, Rococo art, housing collectives and adult education. More recently, at the 15th Australia’s Homosexual Histories Conference, Phoenix shared over 30 years of lesbian artworks from her practice. In this paper, I recognize Phoenix’ documentation as a feminist act of care. My paper responds, in a reciprocal act, by sharing Phoenix’ story: interweaving her biography, practice and records with my own experiences, as a younger researcher, of interacting with Phoenix the person, artist, oral historian and documentarian.
In words rich with pride, Janine Burke writes of the first issue of Lip: ‘Its shocking, seductive... more In words rich with pride, Janine Burke writes of the first issue of Lip: ‘Its shocking, seductive pink cover announced a bold, new, women’s aesthetic’.1 The pink of the first cover, delicately metallic, continues to seduce, beckoning readers to rifle through its pages. In its A4 format, the aesthetic of the Women’s Art Movement (WAM)¾the upturned flaps of collaged pieces, the noise and movement of theatre, the smells of installation works¾are tidied and constrained, until one meets the centrefold, where doilies, pregnant bodies and teacups, threaten to spill out.
In the wake of International Women’s Year (IWY) (1975), Lip: A Feminist Arts Journal (1976–84) began as discussions among three women’s groups: Melbourne’s Women’s Art Register, Women’s Theatre Group and Women’s Film Festival, each seeking to remedy the lack of attention given to women’s creative practice. Over the following eight years, the shifting editorial collective, described by Barbara Hall as single-minded, efficient, imaginative and persistent, produced seven issues, using the publication as an experimental receptacle for many of the ideas and discussions generated by WAM.2 For example, one can identify strategies employed by Sydney’s Women’s Art Movement (c. 1974–76), such as documenting individual practices and collective activities, auditing women’s representation and researching historical women artists, being repeated in Lip. Tersely written articles hint at contemporary debates, particularly around the ethics of critiquing or criticising women’s practice, while the appearance of coupled, yet contrary, reviews provides evidence of Lip’s attempts to represent diverse positions and opinions.
Returning to the first issue of Lip, and the definitions of “lip” repeated across its front and back covers (typed, curiously, forwards and backwards respectively) this paper reflects on Lip’s voice. Through specific examples contained within and kept out of the pages, I will ask: What was said? Which words continue to sing? What was spoken, perhaps, too, vociferously? And what was left unspoken?
In hyper-realistic paintings and tapestries, Lisa McCleary collages the private and intimate sexu... more In hyper-realistic paintings and tapestries, Lisa McCleary collages the private and intimate sexual communications submitted to her by members of Snapchat’s atypical cybersex counterculture. She blends together their posed, anonymous bodies; intersecting them with the suggestive and sexualized snippets of sext conversations. ‘where are u?’, ‘Licking’, ‘You know I would’, ‘I bury my t . . .’, ‘Wouldnt you rather . . .’ Hung large bright and clean on gallery walls, these works invite languorous consumption, a repetition of the artists’ painstaking and laborious manner of creation.
McCleary’s translation of imagery intended for Snapchat¾an ephemeral messaging service¾into traditional art forms subverts conventional methods for approaching and thinking about sexting. Just as she shifts intimate and temporary moments into the territory of public consideration and permanency, she also legitimizes the amateur photographs, enabling them to function in the realm of contemporary art and the history of the nude.
This paper presents a conversation between feminist art historian Louise R Mayhew and emerging artist Lisa McCleary on the impact of legitimizing practices and the potential for art to operate as social activism. More specifically, this paper provides a place for capturing and considering the confessional, celebratory and body-positive dialogue generated by contributors, peers and audiences in response to McCleary’s practice.
This paper located the practices of leading cyberfeminist group, VNS Matrix (1991-97) within the ... more This paper located the practices of leading cyberfeminist group, VNS Matrix (1991-97) within the history of women-only art collectives and collaboration in Australia.
This paper introduces three key examples of women-only collaborative art projects from the 1980s ... more This paper introduces three key examples of women-only collaborative art projects from the 1980s in order to argue that feminist collectivism of this era was interestingly, and ironically, concerned with individual authorship.
"The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a period of women only poster collectives in Australia.... more "The late 1970s and early 1980s witnessed a period of women only poster collectives in Australia. The posters produced by these collectives are anarchistic, celebratory, educational, sarcastic, utopian and witty. They advertise a plethora of sub-cultural events, groups and causes including dances, exhibitions and rallies, women’s only sports clubs and radio programmes, and services such as women’s drop-in and refuge centres. Bold and striking text is matched with deliberately feminine tones deploring violence against women and children, sexual harassment, unequal pay, and advocating gay and lesbian rights, access to contraception, equal opportunities and education for women.
Although women only poster collectives operated according to the structure, concerns and aesthetics of other Australian poster collectives they have largely been erased from this history. Poster collectives emerged in Australia in the 1970s in response to worldwide, national and local events with calls for activism, anarchy and awareness. Posters were utilised as a cheap and efficient mode for advertising a broad range of radical opinions. Their quick production allowed for immediate comment on social and political events, whilst their distribution method, plastered onto telegraph poles, underpasses and construction site walls, enabled direct, uncensored access to the public.
This paper unearths and examines women only poster collectives active in Australia during the 1970s and 19080s. It provides a succinct summation of the facts surrounding these collectives, establishing members and start and end dates, and expands into an understanding of why collectives formed, why membership was limited to women, and how collectives functioned.
Groups examined in this paper include the Anarchist Feminist Poster Collective, Adelaide (1979–85)); Bloody Good Graffix, Melbourne (c.1983–84); Garage Graphix, Sydney (1980–96); Harridan Screenprinters, Sydney (c.1981–88); Jillposters, Melbourne (1983–87) and the Women’s Warehouse Screenprinting Collective, Sydney (c.1979–81)."
Papers by Louise R Mayhew
There’s something illicit about being in cafés and bars after they close. After all the customers... more There’s something illicit about being in cafés and bars after they close. After all the customers have left, the coffee machine has been cleaned, chairs have been hoisted onto tables and the floors have been swept and mopped, after all is done except to lock up and leave—young, tired and sweaty, bodies linger.
This exhibition catalogue essay contextualises Australian feminist performance artist, Georgia Banks, within contemporary and historical discussions of gender, labour and the exchange of capital
O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism brought together the American Georgia O’Kee... more O’Keeffe, Preston, Cossington Smith: Making Modernism brought together the American Georgia O’Keeffe and two Australians: Margaret Preston and Grace Cossington Smith. Setting each artist’s work in its own tightly hung space, the curators (and there were many) presented an enticingly simple premise. In unison they stated: Here are three significant Modernists. Their work revealed to us rich similarities in ambition and productive differences in context and technique. Do you see them, too?
The timeline that you will find in the following centrefold charts a history of Australia’s women... more The timeline that you will find in the following centrefold charts a history of Australia’s women-only collective and collaborative art projects, locating contemporary practices within a fertile landscape of women’s galleries, curatorial initiatives, publications, discussion networks and group art practices.
The dates and names listed here are drawn from my doctoral thesis on women’s art collectives and collaboration in Australia (1970–2010) that was completed at Sydney’s UNSW Art & Design in 2014, and from the deep awareness that this history is largely unwritten and inaccurately recorded. Additions and amendments are warmly welcomed (send to: Louise R Mayhew: l.mayhew@unsw.edu.au).
A parallel timeline of Australian feminist art history, with a greater focus on exhibitions and solo practices, exists on Wikipedia. More entries, and more contributors, are always welcome to the project (Australian feminist art timeline: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_feminist_art_timeline).
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2015
Framework
Operating as the collaborative duo - Clark Beaumont - Nicole Beaumont and Sarah Clark negotiated ... more Operating as the collaborative duo - Clark Beaumont - Nicole Beaumont and Sarah Clark negotiated shared space above a plinth-top for nine hours a day, 11 days in a row. The work was part of John Kaldor’s most recent project, ‘13 Rooms’ held at Pier 2/3. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Klaus Biesenback, the exhibition was comprised of the enactments and re-enactments of 13 performance works by internationally renowned artists, including such art world stars as Abramović, Baldessari, Hirst and Sierra. Amidst these names, Clark Beaumont featured as the young, and relatively unknown, Australian addition.
Acknowledging the insignificance of a cursory stroll and momentary contemplation of this extraordinary, durational piece, I approached six women—all of whom I greatly respect—for their various takes on the piece. This article explores their thoughts.
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Book chapters by Louise R Mayhew
These sister collectives have been carefully selected as demonstrative of a broad range of collective working practices: the desire to remove individual identity and signature style in favour of the presentation of one fused creative author; combining distinctive interests and educations into a single project; and divvying specific tasks amongst sisters according to personal talents resulting in exhibitions reminiscent of a group themed show. Whilst the subject matter, mediums and styles of these collectives vary dramatically from richly detailed embroidery and fun-filled video to bleak and deadpan film, handmade and experimental jewellery to minimal and professional performance; similarities are also evident in the recurring themes of childhood memories, nostalgia, time travel, doublings and mirror images.
All of the sister collectives are currently active; emerging or mid-career and recognised as such through gallery representation, inclusion in exhibitions, and/or successful receipt of grants and scholarships; however literature on and critical engagement with their work is decidedly lacking. The following paper addresses this gap and discusses sister collectives in terms of: reasons for working together; varying methods of conception, creation and the division of tasks; consideration of style, subject matter and medium; and identification of similarities and differences between the collectives.
"
Journal articles by Louise R Mayhew
example, collective ownership, group authorship, commitment to local community concerns and the non-sexist representation of women. The Women’s Warehouse was an unproclaimed, yet undeniably, lesbian feminist space. This paper begins research into the feminist politics, presentation and perception of the house.
Full paper available: http://www.fmk.singidunum.ac.rs/izdavastvo/art-media/
Full paper available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/r3MVxCaiKaxFXQxp7USA/full
Conference papers by Louise R Mayhew
As electroclash musicians, Chicks on Speed were at the forefront of a female-dominated turn in music, trashing up the dj scene with faux rock instruments and singing “we don’t play guitars”. Elisabeth Bridges argues that electronic music is suited to feminist politics for its horizontal, hybrid and non-narrative forms. In keeping with Bridges, in this paper I argue that COS’ authorial politics can equally be traced via a formal analysis of their visual phenomena, though I take a different route to achieve this end. Approaching COS from art history, it’s productive to situate them in the artistic context of relational aesthetics as articulated by Nicolas Bourriaud and famously critiqued by Claire Bishop. Using Donna Haraway and Sadie Plant, I stretch Bishop’s articulation of democracy as antagonism to account for a practice that is both fractured (emblematic of difference and diversity) and joyous, both porous and utopian.
In the wake of International Women’s Year (IWY) (1975), Lip: A Feminist Arts Journal (1976–84) began as discussions among three women’s groups: Melbourne’s Women’s Art Register, Women’s Theatre Group and Women’s Film Festival, each seeking to remedy the lack of attention given to women’s creative practice. Over the following eight years, the shifting editorial collective, described by Barbara Hall as single-minded, efficient, imaginative and persistent, produced seven issues, using the publication as an experimental receptacle for many of the ideas and discussions generated by WAM.2 For example, one can identify strategies employed by Sydney’s Women’s Art Movement (c. 1974–76), such as documenting individual practices and collective activities, auditing women’s representation and researching historical women artists, being repeated in Lip. Tersely written articles hint at contemporary debates, particularly around the ethics of critiquing or criticising women’s practice, while the appearance of coupled, yet contrary, reviews provides evidence of Lip’s attempts to represent diverse positions and opinions.
Returning to the first issue of Lip, and the definitions of “lip” repeated across its front and back covers (typed, curiously, forwards and backwards respectively) this paper reflects on Lip’s voice. Through specific examples contained within and kept out of the pages, I will ask: What was said? Which words continue to sing? What was spoken, perhaps, too, vociferously? And what was left unspoken?
McCleary’s translation of imagery intended for Snapchat¾an ephemeral messaging service¾into traditional art forms subverts conventional methods for approaching and thinking about sexting. Just as she shifts intimate and temporary moments into the territory of public consideration and permanency, she also legitimizes the amateur photographs, enabling them to function in the realm of contemporary art and the history of the nude.
This paper presents a conversation between feminist art historian Louise R Mayhew and emerging artist Lisa McCleary on the impact of legitimizing practices and the potential for art to operate as social activism. More specifically, this paper provides a place for capturing and considering the confessional, celebratory and body-positive dialogue generated by contributors, peers and audiences in response to McCleary’s practice.
Although women only poster collectives operated according to the structure, concerns and aesthetics of other Australian poster collectives they have largely been erased from this history. Poster collectives emerged in Australia in the 1970s in response to worldwide, national and local events with calls for activism, anarchy and awareness. Posters were utilised as a cheap and efficient mode for advertising a broad range of radical opinions. Their quick production allowed for immediate comment on social and political events, whilst their distribution method, plastered onto telegraph poles, underpasses and construction site walls, enabled direct, uncensored access to the public.
This paper unearths and examines women only poster collectives active in Australia during the 1970s and 19080s. It provides a succinct summation of the facts surrounding these collectives, establishing members and start and end dates, and expands into an understanding of why collectives formed, why membership was limited to women, and how collectives functioned.
Groups examined in this paper include the Anarchist Feminist Poster Collective, Adelaide (1979–85)); Bloody Good Graffix, Melbourne (c.1983–84); Garage Graphix, Sydney (1980–96); Harridan Screenprinters, Sydney (c.1981–88); Jillposters, Melbourne (1983–87) and the Women’s Warehouse Screenprinting Collective, Sydney (c.1979–81)."
Papers by Louise R Mayhew
This exhibition catalogue essay contextualises Australian feminist performance artist, Georgia Banks, within contemporary and historical discussions of gender, labour and the exchange of capital
The dates and names listed here are drawn from my doctoral thesis on women’s art collectives and collaboration in Australia (1970–2010) that was completed at Sydney’s UNSW Art & Design in 2014, and from the deep awareness that this history is largely unwritten and inaccurately recorded. Additions and amendments are warmly welcomed (send to: Louise R Mayhew: l.mayhew@unsw.edu.au).
A parallel timeline of Australian feminist art history, with a greater focus on exhibitions and solo practices, exists on Wikipedia. More entries, and more contributors, are always welcome to the project (Australian feminist art timeline: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_feminist_art_timeline).
Acknowledging the insignificance of a cursory stroll and momentary contemplation of this extraordinary, durational piece, I approached six women—all of whom I greatly respect—for their various takes on the piece. This article explores their thoughts.
These sister collectives have been carefully selected as demonstrative of a broad range of collective working practices: the desire to remove individual identity and signature style in favour of the presentation of one fused creative author; combining distinctive interests and educations into a single project; and divvying specific tasks amongst sisters according to personal talents resulting in exhibitions reminiscent of a group themed show. Whilst the subject matter, mediums and styles of these collectives vary dramatically from richly detailed embroidery and fun-filled video to bleak and deadpan film, handmade and experimental jewellery to minimal and professional performance; similarities are also evident in the recurring themes of childhood memories, nostalgia, time travel, doublings and mirror images.
All of the sister collectives are currently active; emerging or mid-career and recognised as such through gallery representation, inclusion in exhibitions, and/or successful receipt of grants and scholarships; however literature on and critical engagement with their work is decidedly lacking. The following paper addresses this gap and discusses sister collectives in terms of: reasons for working together; varying methods of conception, creation and the division of tasks; consideration of style, subject matter and medium; and identification of similarities and differences between the collectives.
"
example, collective ownership, group authorship, commitment to local community concerns and the non-sexist representation of women. The Women’s Warehouse was an unproclaimed, yet undeniably, lesbian feminist space. This paper begins research into the feminist politics, presentation and perception of the house.
Full paper available: http://www.fmk.singidunum.ac.rs/izdavastvo/art-media/
Full paper available here: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/r3MVxCaiKaxFXQxp7USA/full
As electroclash musicians, Chicks on Speed were at the forefront of a female-dominated turn in music, trashing up the dj scene with faux rock instruments and singing “we don’t play guitars”. Elisabeth Bridges argues that electronic music is suited to feminist politics for its horizontal, hybrid and non-narrative forms. In keeping with Bridges, in this paper I argue that COS’ authorial politics can equally be traced via a formal analysis of their visual phenomena, though I take a different route to achieve this end. Approaching COS from art history, it’s productive to situate them in the artistic context of relational aesthetics as articulated by Nicolas Bourriaud and famously critiqued by Claire Bishop. Using Donna Haraway and Sadie Plant, I stretch Bishop’s articulation of democracy as antagonism to account for a practice that is both fractured (emblematic of difference and diversity) and joyous, both porous and utopian.
In the wake of International Women’s Year (IWY) (1975), Lip: A Feminist Arts Journal (1976–84) began as discussions among three women’s groups: Melbourne’s Women’s Art Register, Women’s Theatre Group and Women’s Film Festival, each seeking to remedy the lack of attention given to women’s creative practice. Over the following eight years, the shifting editorial collective, described by Barbara Hall as single-minded, efficient, imaginative and persistent, produced seven issues, using the publication as an experimental receptacle for many of the ideas and discussions generated by WAM.2 For example, one can identify strategies employed by Sydney’s Women’s Art Movement (c. 1974–76), such as documenting individual practices and collective activities, auditing women’s representation and researching historical women artists, being repeated in Lip. Tersely written articles hint at contemporary debates, particularly around the ethics of critiquing or criticising women’s practice, while the appearance of coupled, yet contrary, reviews provides evidence of Lip’s attempts to represent diverse positions and opinions.
Returning to the first issue of Lip, and the definitions of “lip” repeated across its front and back covers (typed, curiously, forwards and backwards respectively) this paper reflects on Lip’s voice. Through specific examples contained within and kept out of the pages, I will ask: What was said? Which words continue to sing? What was spoken, perhaps, too, vociferously? And what was left unspoken?
McCleary’s translation of imagery intended for Snapchat¾an ephemeral messaging service¾into traditional art forms subverts conventional methods for approaching and thinking about sexting. Just as she shifts intimate and temporary moments into the territory of public consideration and permanency, she also legitimizes the amateur photographs, enabling them to function in the realm of contemporary art and the history of the nude.
This paper presents a conversation between feminist art historian Louise R Mayhew and emerging artist Lisa McCleary on the impact of legitimizing practices and the potential for art to operate as social activism. More specifically, this paper provides a place for capturing and considering the confessional, celebratory and body-positive dialogue generated by contributors, peers and audiences in response to McCleary’s practice.
Although women only poster collectives operated according to the structure, concerns and aesthetics of other Australian poster collectives they have largely been erased from this history. Poster collectives emerged in Australia in the 1970s in response to worldwide, national and local events with calls for activism, anarchy and awareness. Posters were utilised as a cheap and efficient mode for advertising a broad range of radical opinions. Their quick production allowed for immediate comment on social and political events, whilst their distribution method, plastered onto telegraph poles, underpasses and construction site walls, enabled direct, uncensored access to the public.
This paper unearths and examines women only poster collectives active in Australia during the 1970s and 19080s. It provides a succinct summation of the facts surrounding these collectives, establishing members and start and end dates, and expands into an understanding of why collectives formed, why membership was limited to women, and how collectives functioned.
Groups examined in this paper include the Anarchist Feminist Poster Collective, Adelaide (1979–85)); Bloody Good Graffix, Melbourne (c.1983–84); Garage Graphix, Sydney (1980–96); Harridan Screenprinters, Sydney (c.1981–88); Jillposters, Melbourne (1983–87) and the Women’s Warehouse Screenprinting Collective, Sydney (c.1979–81)."
This exhibition catalogue essay contextualises Australian feminist performance artist, Georgia Banks, within contemporary and historical discussions of gender, labour and the exchange of capital
The dates and names listed here are drawn from my doctoral thesis on women’s art collectives and collaboration in Australia (1970–2010) that was completed at Sydney’s UNSW Art & Design in 2014, and from the deep awareness that this history is largely unwritten and inaccurately recorded. Additions and amendments are warmly welcomed (send to: Louise R Mayhew: l.mayhew@unsw.edu.au).
A parallel timeline of Australian feminist art history, with a greater focus on exhibitions and solo practices, exists on Wikipedia. More entries, and more contributors, are always welcome to the project (Australian feminist art timeline: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_feminist_art_timeline).
Acknowledging the insignificance of a cursory stroll and momentary contemplation of this extraordinary, durational piece, I approached six women—all of whom I greatly respect—for their various takes on the piece. This article explores their thoughts.