This one was worth seeing but I don't think it was one of ACCA's better exhibitions of recent times, even allowing that the themed ones are probably trickier to nail than the individual artist shows.
I think the main problem for me was that 'feminism' is a huge topic and there wasn't any obvious coherence to this exhibition's take on it, although most of the pieces did reflect a reasonably critical engagement with feminism itself. The other thing, I have to say, is that I didn't think many of the individual works were particularly strong. (I wondered if this was a failure of understanding or sympathy on my part, but Cass had the same take.)
Sandra Hill - "Home-maker #9: The hairdresser" (2014)
One aspect that did interest me was the way the various works engaged with aesthetics and conventionally appealing presentation (imagery, colours etc) in conveying their messages - some drawing heavily on forms designed to draw in the viewer (with expectations then sometimes being subverted), others aggressively raw and unappealing to look at.
My two favourites were a series of six of Clare Rae's 'actions', undertaken and photographed at ACCA itself - I really like the NGV ones and these are ace too - and Shevaun Wright's sobering "The rape contract", made up indeed of a several pages of 'rape contract' in very convincing legalese - apt given the power of the law/state in relation to rape and its victims - with invisible ink annotations from a victim's perspective that shows up under the torches accompanying the piece (for that one, 'favourite' probably isn't the word so much as 'most affecting').
Also Linda Dement's three-screen video installation "Feminist methodology machine", which reminded me of Revolt. She Said, Revolt Again and the quasi-surtitles that blared on screens in the transitions between its scenes, and Sandra Hill's simple but piercing 'hairdresser' collage-referencing painting.
(w/ Cass)
Linda Dement - "Feminist methodology machine" (2016)
I think the main problem for me was that 'feminism' is a huge topic and there wasn't any obvious coherence to this exhibition's take on it, although most of the pieces did reflect a reasonably critical engagement with feminism itself. The other thing, I have to say, is that I didn't think many of the individual works were particularly strong. (I wondered if this was a failure of understanding or sympathy on my part, but Cass had the same take.)
One aspect that did interest me was the way the various works engaged with aesthetics and conventionally appealing presentation (imagery, colours etc) in conveying their messages - some drawing heavily on forms designed to draw in the viewer (with expectations then sometimes being subverted), others aggressively raw and unappealing to look at.
Clare Rae - untitled action for ACCA (2017)
My two favourites were a series of six of Clare Rae's 'actions', undertaken and photographed at ACCA itself - I really like the NGV ones and these are ace too - and Shevaun Wright's sobering "The rape contract", made up indeed of a several pages of 'rape contract' in very convincing legalese - apt given the power of the law/state in relation to rape and its victims - with invisible ink annotations from a victim's perspective that shows up under the torches accompanying the piece (for that one, 'favourite' probably isn't the word so much as 'most affecting').
Shevaun Wright - "The rape contract" (2016)
Also Linda Dement's three-screen video installation "Feminist methodology machine", which reminded me of Revolt. She Said, Revolt Again and the quasi-surtitles that blared on screens in the transitions between its scenes, and Sandra Hill's simple but piercing 'hairdresser' collage-referencing painting.
(w/ Cass)
