Trepidation | Sandra Gunniga Thomson, Melissa Kahl, Sarah Catania
space one
Through Trepidation, artists Sarah Catania, Melissa Kahl, and Sandra Gunniga Thomson explore the cloud of unease that has settled over them as they confront ambiguous futures. Thomson, whose practice concerns a textural realisation of organic and visceral forms through traditional drawing techniques, engages with the idea of an impractical and unhealthy obsession with the unknown. The subjects of her works are indulgent and submit to being enveloped by the surrounding environment they must inhabit. Kahl, through her imagery of tide, flow and gravity, explores ‘the moment’ as akin to the push and pull of water. Her works present a dichotomy between action and passivity—obsession and indifference— that entices oneself into a state of indecisiveness and apprehension to inhibit progression towards a future. Catania explores the nature of memory and its effect on the future. As what individuals remember from the past influences their current and future life, what happens if those memories are skewed towards the negative or contain trauma? Her works sift through her own sense of impending doom stemming from past memories and the fear of her past repeating itself in the future.
Body Language | Sïan Kelly
space two
The progression of the concept of gender in Western philosophy and pedagogy has, over recent decades, reached a point of cultural understanding that sees it increasingly liberated from the restraints of biological sex. However, the body is a site in Western art that is historically riddled with corporeal symbolism pertaining to a specifically binary model of gender.
How can one present trans/non-binary bodies to an audience that leans upon a history of binary gender representation, and achieve a readability that promotes gender-queer discourse? How can arts practices push up against spectacularity and gain autonomy?
It is in the space between embodiment and legibility that Body Language is situated. The result of- and extension from- my 2019 Honours body of work, Body Language draws upon my own experience of bodily reception and misgendering as a non-binary artist. It manifests itself through the lens of expanded drawing, as a performance, sculpture and installation work that interrogates non-binary embodiment, abstraction as a method of queering the body, and the body’s agency as both a site and medium to discuss queer theory and trans politics.
OPENING: Wednesday 5 February 2020, 5.00pm - 8.00pm
EXHIBITION: 5 - 22 February 2020
WHERE: KUDOS GALLERY
ADDRESS: 6 NAPIER STREET, PADDINGTON NSW 2021
HOURS: WED TO FRI 11AM-6PM, SAT 11AM-4PM
Image: Sïan Kelly, 'Residue 1' 2019, gel medium, rope
