Suspend, 2008 – Melanie Dare

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Suspend, 2008

This artwork was created not long after a family member passed away from a long, slow death.

CONTACT

Mobile: +61409937022
Email: melaniedare@hotmail.com

Quiet moment of contemplation sitting above the bu $Quiet moment of contemplation sitting above the busyness of the city: My favourite time of day. The changing refraction of the sun's light. A lifetime obsession of finding high places to look towards the horizon as the sun sets. #sunset #lookingtothehorizon #quietcontemplation #thistooshallpass$

The series Don't Be Such a Girl! showing at Bunbur

The series Don't Be Such a Girl! showing at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery as part of the Bunbury Biennale 2021 until 6 June 2021.

Artist Statement:
Don't be such a girl! Dumb, stupid, sensitive, fearful, fragile, feminine, emotional, precious, pathetic, weak and useless.

In front of me is a photograph. I am 5 years old, surrounded by my brother and cousins. I am the only one looking into the camera. I am grinning my head off. For Christmas I received a pretty pink plastic love heart ring and necklace. I am absolutely chuffed.

Our parents raised my brother and I as equals. We were given the same chores and duties around the family farm and home. We built go-carts and rafts together. We loved climbing and comics. We shared a train set. We had different tastes but they were personal rather than gendered.

Somewhere early in my childhood I began to realise the world related to me differently than my immediate family. Being a girl meant there were certain things expected of me including imposed limitations. I started seeing pink as an accusation, and sometimes an insult. It took me until my mid-20s to reconcile that the problem was not a particular colour. Nor was it that I am a woman.

During the 21 years of my art practice I have focused on identity. Exploring how the threads of our experiences make up the fabric of our personal narratives. These inform us of who we are, how we relate to the world and in turn how the world relates to us. This body of work explores my childhood ambivalence at being a girl.

Artwork details: Don't be such a girl! series, acrylic paint on canvas, 2021

No. 7 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 7 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 7, ink and acrylic on canvas, 30.9 X 30.9cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 7 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 7 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 7, coloured pencils, ink and acrylic on canvas, 40.7 X 40.7cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 6 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 6 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 6, ink and acrylic on canvas, 40.7 X 40.7cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 5 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 5 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 5, ink and acrylic on canvas, 30.9 X 30.9cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 4 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 4 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 4, ink and acrylic on canvas, 30.9 x 30.9cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 3 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 3 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 3, ink and acrylic on canvas, 30.9 X 30.9cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

No. 2 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting i

No. 2 of Don't Be Such a Girl! series exhibiting in Bunbury Biennale 2021 He/She/They at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery until 6th June.

Artwork details: Melanie Dare, Don't Be Such a Girl 2, ink and acrylic on canvas, 30.9 X 30.9cm, 2021

#bunburybiennale2021 #heshetheyexhibition #melaniedare #contemporaryart #australianartist #perthartist

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