Consider this a ‘Covid portrait’ - informed by the weird and wonderful thoughts brought on by the 2020 experience, including the madness of flying to and from Europe at the beginning of the pandemic, returning to Melbourne in lockdown, the mental shift from ‘working from home’ to ‘living at work’, interstate and overseas family and friends really not getting what it means to only leave home once a day for a walk or supplies, questioning decisions of government here and overseas, not having the emotional capacity to grieve deaths of loved ones, uncertainty, boredom, lack of control, grey hair, sustaining relationships, the internet as entertainment…and so on.
Photographic portrait featuring wearable sculpture made from pantyhose and poly-fil.
Created for ‘Abstract Self’ - Polly Borland x Wunder Gym exhibition.
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a Dolly Varden pan. Make a packet cake. Remove from oven and stand before turning onto a rack to cool. Make buttercream. Cover cake in buttercream. Remove the legs from a doll. Insert legless doll into the cake. Cover cake in fondant or marshmallows, or more buttercream. Embellish.
Photograph of a mixed media sculpture in the form of a Virgin Mary Doll Varden cake. Made from fondant, food and acrylic paint, plastic, coconut, sugar and various other media.
Created for ‘Provocative Cakes’ - Hotham Street Ladies x Wunder Gym exhibition.
This was supposed to be a joke - but how quickly the need for public health preventative measure (wearing masks) was turned into an object of fashion. Thus this work reflects the world, politics and capitalism in 2020.
Each work is constructed to be functional (although some would practically be single use only). Constructed from a variety of media including fabric, ribbon, metal studs, sequins, plastic sparkles, wood, and acrylic paint.
Created for ‘Mask for Mask’ - The Huxleys x Wunder Gym exhibition. In situ image by Samara Clifford.
What does it mean to be invisible in plain sight?
This photograph was exhibited accompanied by a sculptural representation of the headdress/scarf. The scarf featured hand beaded embellishment.
Created for ‘Camouflage’ - Troy Emery x Wunder Gym.
This work is about our relationship with the world around us and how we think about it, engage with it, and observe it. The motion of the ocean is like the breath we take. It moves on its own. We do it on instinct. If we stop, we die.
Created for ‘Unshut’ - Ilona Nelson x Wunder Gym exhibition.
This mixed media work is a repurposing of many test images I’ve created over time, transformed into a work inspired by John Brack’s 1955 work, ‘Collins Street, 5pm’.
I feel Brack’s work - having been a city-based officer worker, joining the masses as we make a beeline from the office to some vehicle of public transport to take us back to the ‘burbs. How do we maintain our individuality? Or creativity?
Created for ‘Beg Borrow Steal’ - Jacqui Stockdale x Wunder Gym exhibition. This image was presented alongside a work entitled Nowhere (the Arrival). Together they speak to the experience of newly arriving in an unfamiliar place and how quickly we become part of the furniture.
This work takes a simple shape and repeats it over and over. It may appear to move if you look at it too long. Its colours are inspired by the Northern Lights, a phenomenon I’ve been fortunate enough to experience. On exhibition, the work was mounted with backlighting featuring complementary colours rotating around the edges of the image.
Created for ‘Motif, Repeat’ - Kate Rhode x Wunder Gym exhibition.
If success is defined as financial stability, influence and profile - as the Western world might have you believe - then you’re best off being a man named John (statistically speaking).
Created for ‘Making It’ - Geoff Newton x Wunder Gym exhibition. In situ image by Samara Clifford.
Based on a true story. The temper of a man is ‘passion’; the drive of a women is ‘emotional’.
These felt, fabric, thread works are based on American style pennants awarded to sports people/teams for achievement.
Created for ‘Making It’ - Geoff Newton x Wunder Gym exhibition. In situ image by Samara Clifford.