“Real Life Fantasies”
Katherine Botten, Lara Chamas, Kaiwarr Clancy, Saskia Doherty, Hana Earles, Brighid Fitzgerald, Nunzio Madden, Rafaella McDonald, Alice McIntosh, Lillian Palser Barto, Nell Pearson, Sam Petersen, Nadege Philippe-Janon, Ander Rennick, Zoe Wong and Sophie Cassar
14 July → 19 Aug 2017
Real Life Fantasies is a group exhibition featuring artists who defy dominant narratives of sex, sexuality, gender and desire, and define themselves according to their own terms and own pleasures.
I'm thinking of these two moments as having potential for euphoria or at least a thrill / shock ... and the drip , drop that inevitably follows. they are both available to me, a public (mood) swing & a bag of oranges from IGA (vitamin c). (Brighid Fitzgerald)
Since I have become a mother, my relationship with my body has really shifted. My breasts are making so much milk and feeding my son, their role has changed so much, and I really wanted to create an image that captured some part of the body changing through childbirth. (Ruth O'Leary)
The leaves of the Bunya pine are incredibly sharp and spiky. I often find myself and my transgender peers being like the leaves. Spiky and protective so we can grow as human beings. (Kaiwarr Clancy)
Personally the themes discussed in this show, particularly sexuality and sexual freedom, are so foreign and "other" to me, even though my own work discusses this I struggle to be comfortable speaking about these topics, that I was raised to believe were taboo. (Lara Chamas)
Elements of the exhibition design have been developed by Luca Lana and Virginia Mannering, and were catalysed during an Interior Architecture studio the pair taught at Monash Art, Design and Architecture.
This exhibition has received assistance from NETS Victoria’s Exhibition Development Fund, supported by Victorian Government through Creative Victoria.
Katherine Botten
Lara Chamas is a first generation Australian-Lebanese artist, based in Melbourne. Her practice investigates sub topics of postcolonial and migrant narratives, specifically within the context of her cultural identity, in relation to contemporary Australian and global, political society. Currently a completing a masters by research in fine art at Monash University, central to her research is the expansion on these notions in a more historical and anthropological sense.
Kaiwarr Clancy
Saskia Doherty is an artist and writer whose work takes form primarily as sculpture, drawing, text, and sound. Saskia has participated in exhibitions and events at organisations including Monash University Museum of Art, Tophane-i Amire Arts and Culture Centre [Istanbul], the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Art School [Sydney], TarraWarra Museum of Modern Art and West Space. Saskia lives and works in Naarm Melbourne on the unceded sovereign land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.
Hana Earles is an artist who has been featured by numerous key galleries and museums.
Brighid Fitzgerald is an artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne. Brighid’s practice is conversational; repositioning and documenting materials and gestures through video and installation.
Nunzio Madden (previously known as Natasha Madden) is a Slovenian-Australian artist and disability pensioner. Since completing their Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours degree at the Victorian College of the Arts, Madden has exhibited at the Akademie der Künste as part of the Berlin Biennale, as well as at M.1/mi1glissé, The Physics Room, West Space, and Minerva Offsite. Madden is also a drummer for Wet Kiss and Terminal Infant.
Rafaella McDonald has a painting and sculptural practice, working across gallery settings, public spaces, and clothing. Her practice is concerned with the gestural elements of materials, documenting interactions between materials and the body.
Alice McIntosh is an artist living and working in Naarm/Melbourne.
Lillian Palser Barto is currently living and practising in Melbourne.
Nell Pearson is a Byron Bay based artist who works across painting, sculpture, ceramics and performance. Through her work, she likes to explore what she calls the 'theatre of the unconscious' which is reflected in her often dream-like compositions. She won a full year scholarship to the Julian Ashton School of Art for Drawing in Sydney and the Victorian College of Art in Melbourne.
Sam Peterson is an artist, writer and performer.
Ander Rennick is a queer graphic artist working across drawing, type and print media. His work explores the moderation, refinement and stratification of bodies under consumer culture and industry influence. He investigates the role of aesthetics in the contemporary gay imaginary: archival fetishism, HIV/AIDS romanticism, club ‘liberation’, bodily preference, editorial living, ‘staunchness’, etc. and questions why all queers are forced to improvise their own modes of sociological inquiry in order to survive.
Zoe Wong is a Sydney based emerging artist whose practice explores her Australian born, Chinese queer heritage through photography and installation. She has exhibited at Blindside Gallery in Melbourne, Gaffa Gallery and Stacks Gallery in Sydney. In 2016 Wong completed her Bachelor of Design in Photography & Situated Media (honours) at the University of Technology.
Sophie Cassar is an artist and arts worker living in Narrm, Melbourne. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts from VCA (2017), and Honours in Art History and Theory from Monash University (2020). Sophie’s studio practice engages painting, installation and artist books. Her work has been included in programs at West Space, Gertrude Contemporary, Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, Seventh Gallery and Bus Projects.