SMART THINKER
Artist Adrienne Doig’s whimsical self-portraits build on the work of others to create something new.
Artist Adrienne Doig’s whimsical self-portraits build on the work of others to create something new.
“I’VE BROUGHT AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE INTO THE SCENE TO COLONISE THEM.” ADRIENNE DOIG
Adrienne Doig’s new series started with an op-shop find about six years ago. “It’s an embroidered scene of a sewing room in an attic. I was busy at the time so I just put it aside. Then similar works kept appearing in op shops and on eBay, and a theme emerged of woman working in domestic interiors, sewing or doing chores.” The series was well timed to coincide with the COVID-19 shutdown period. Says Doig: “It was interesting creating these pieces in lockdown as they are interiors and they tie in with the COVID-19 working from home theme – something we all relate to.”
While Doig’s work are mostly referred to as selfportraits, many themes are introduced into the pieces – from environmental issues to feminism. Each series starts with a different medium as a base, from cushion covers to Australiana tea towels, then Doig adds to these mediums with paint, embroidery, appliqué and needlepoint to create a new artwork. “I always like to find other work and utilise that in my own creations,” says Doig.
She also works her selfportrait into the scene. “For this series I’ve set them up as a conversation – me in conversation with these previous makers. Often the domestic chores and craft of the homemakers are completely overlooked. I thought it was a nice way to look back at the history of women’s craft, a celebration of the everyday. It’s like we are working together and there’s a conversation between the past and present.” Doig’s self-portraits have changed over the years, evolving as she has. “Well, I try and make them look older,” she laughs.
“Adrienne’s self-portraiture is interesting to me because the serial depiction of self is playfully narcissistic, but without sucking up all the oxygen in the room with a pathological mantra of ‘me-me- me’,” says Dr Daniel
Mudie Cunningham, director of programs at Carriageworks in Sydney. “People who enjoy her work probably see the artist as representing a very common human longing for transcendence from banality – the desire to be able to imagine ourselves willfully inserted into whatever archetypal fantasy, landscape or scene of choice.
“The irony is that Adrienne upsets the visual tropes of the dominant Western culture through the inherent feminist and political commentary. Her work retains a freshness and irreverence in its ability to impart a powerful message while endearing itself to whimsy and play.” Doig chooses self-portraits in order to give a unifying theme to her works. “In the series, the images are quite different but I unify them with a repetition of an idea with my portrait. There are 13 pieces in the new collection. There are some that aren’t interiors. A lot are European scenes, so I’ve brought Australian wildlife into the scene to colonise them that way. It’s very labour-intensive work, and I just keep building and building.”
Doig is constantly astonished by the craftwork she finds discarded in op shops. “Some are nearly finished – I’ll find them in a bag with the wool and wonder about the backstory. Someone has put all this effort in and not gone the last step. I want to honour their work. These works are building on the work of other women.”
• Adrienne Doig Picture Me, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney.
20 August-13 September, 2020.
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With her unique style, Canberra-based visual artist Helen Tiernan aims to create a discourse by challenging ideas of identity, Aboriginality and colonialsim. mindfood.com/artist-helen-tiernan