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| Deborah Klein, Ladybird Woman, 2014, watercolour on Khadi rag paper, 41.91 x 29.72 cm Photo credit: Tim Gresham |
Three of my watercolours from the ongoing Homo-insecta series, including Ladybird Woman (pictured above) are part of this upcoming show.
MY MONSTER: THE HUMAN-ANIMAL HYBRID explores our enduring fascination and revulsion with the merging of the human and animal, and coincides with the 200th anniversary year of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
The hybrid is the ultimate metaphor. Its almost human image haunts us from horror films to mythology, fairy tales to folk lore, literature to all aspects of visual art. The trouble with hybrids is that they disturb our moral compass, reminding us that we are animals, and animals are like us. This is the power of the hybrid creature. When we look into its human eyes, we see ourselves looking back from the animal body we deny we inhabit.
The hybrid is the ultimate metaphor. Its almost human image haunts us from horror films to mythology, fairy tales to folk lore, literature to all aspects of visual art. The trouble with hybrids is that they disturb our moral compass, reminding us that we are animals, and animals are like us. This is the power of the hybrid creature. When we look into its human eyes, we see ourselves looking back from the animal body we deny we inhabit.
Evelyn Tsitas
Curator, My Monster
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| Image on invitation: Kate Clark, Gallant, 2016, mixed media, dimensions variable |
Bringing together work by more than 25 Australian and international artists in diverse media from public and private collections, including several new works created for the exhibition, My Monster: The Human Animal Hybrid is curated by Evelyn Tsitas, based on her widely published doctoral research in this field.
Opening speaker: Barbara Creed, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne and Honorary Professorial Fellow.
Creed is the author of five books on feminism, sexuality, film and media including the feminist classic, The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis (Routledge). Her recent research is on animal studies, the inhuman and social justice issues; and her latest publication Stray: Human–Animal Ethics in the Anthropocene (2017) explores the relationship between human and animal in the context of the stray.
A number of Public Programs are scheduled throughout the exhibition's run. On Thursday, 2 August, from 5.30 - 6.30 pm, Jazmina Cininas and I will be speaking of Metamorphosis & transformation. For a full list of artist talks, see the invitation above.
Exhibiting artists include: Jane Alexander (South Africa), Peter Booth, Jazmina Cininas, Kate Clark (USA), Catherine Clover, Beth Croce, Julia deVille, Peter Ellis, Rona Green, Moira Finucane, Deborah Kelly, Bharti Kher (IND), Deborah Klein, Oleg Kulik (Ukraine / Russia), Sam Leach, Norman Lindsay, Sidney Nolan, Kira O’Reilly & Jennifer Willet (Ireland / Canada), Lisa Roet, Geoffrey Ricardo, Mithu Sen (IND), Maja Smrekar (Slovenia) and Ronnie Van Hout.
Opening night: Thursday, June 28, 6 pm - 8 pm
RMIT Gallery
344 Swanston Street,
Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia 3000
Open Monday – Friday 11am – 5pm
344 Swanston Street,
Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia 3000
Open Monday – Friday 11am – 5pm
Thursday 11am – 7pm
Saturday 12pm – 5pm
Closed public holidays
Free entry
The exhibition runs until 18 August.