Event
Self guided art tour, Skirts
Selected works from original banners produced as part of Skirts, an MCA, C3West Project. Banners which represent the women from Kingswood and surrounding suburbs together with their words.
Rebellion partly drives my practice—rebellion against sexism, violence against women, ageism and gender expectations.
In 1910, German-born poet and artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was arrested for promenading on Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue dressed in a man’s suit and smoking a cigarette. ‘She Wore Men’s Clothes’ was the headline in The New York Times. Proof exists that the Baroness, not Marcel Duchamp, was the artist responsible for Fountain (1917). The male (Duchamp) has been credited a genius for the very work that belonged to a woman (Freytag-Loringhoven).
The Baroness was the starting point for this women-focused project. American actor Billy Porter wore a ‘tuxedo gown’ to the 2019 Academy Awards. Porter wasn’t arrested, but the backlash was palpable. The Sydney Morning Herald quotes him saying, “But what does that mean, to be masculine? To be strong and powerful? Women wear pants all the time, and nobody bats an eye, but a man puts on a dress and that’s disgusting?”
So, 100 years on and we’re still hearing that women are inferior to men. To wear a skirt in public would not only make a man look like a ’sissy’, but he would feel vulnerable. Skirts aren’t for sissies. Let’s skirt the shirtfronters. Make a beeline to the a-line.
About the Artist
Linda Brescia is a Western Sydney-based artist who investigates the banalities and complexities of everyday life experiences and rituals through painting, photography, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores dynamics around visibility and. invisibility, masking, care and self-assertion. Major projects include Linda Brescia: Holding up the Sky (2018–2019), a solo exhibition at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, Skirts (2021-2022), a C3West project through the Museum of Contemporary Art and Penrith City Council and A Girl Like You (2022), a survey exhibition of recent and newly commissioned works at Penrith Regional Gallery. Linda has had a long history of facilitating workshops and community projects for numerous organisations and groups and is currently working as an artist mentor with We Are Studios, Blacktown.
Linda’s work has been presented in exhibitions and programs for Artspace, Sydney; Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre; Penrith Regional Gallery; Cementa; SafARI 2014; King Street Gallery, Sydney; and MOP, Sydney. She has completed a 2021-2023 artist residency with Parramatta Artists' Studios in Rydalmere, and in 2020 Brescia was awarded the Blacktown City Art Prize for her portrait of American patron of the arts Peggy Guggenheim. Her work is held in the collections of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery, Artcell Collection Management, Blacktown City Council and private collections.
In 1910, German-born poet and artist Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven was arrested for promenading on Pittsburgh’s Fifth Avenue dressed in a man’s suit and smoking a cigarette. ‘She Wore Men’s Clothes’ was the headline in The New York Times. Proof exists that the Baroness, not Marcel Duchamp, was the artist responsible for Fountain (1917). The male (Duchamp) has been credited a genius for the very work that belonged to a woman (Freytag-Loringhoven).
The Baroness was the starting point for this women-focused project. American actor Billy Porter wore a ‘tuxedo gown’ to the 2019 Academy Awards. Porter wasn’t arrested, but the backlash was palpable. The Sydney Morning Herald quotes him saying, “But what does that mean, to be masculine? To be strong and powerful? Women wear pants all the time, and nobody bats an eye, but a man puts on a dress and that’s disgusting?”
So, 100 years on and we’re still hearing that women are inferior to men. To wear a skirt in public would not only make a man look like a ’sissy’, but he would feel vulnerable. Skirts aren’t for sissies. Let’s skirt the shirtfronters. Make a beeline to the a-line.
About the Artist
Linda Brescia is a Western Sydney-based artist who investigates the banalities and complexities of everyday life experiences and rituals through painting, photography, sculpture and performance. Her practice explores dynamics around visibility and. invisibility, masking, care and self-assertion. Major projects include Linda Brescia: Holding up the Sky (2018–2019), a solo exhibition at Fairfield City Museum & Gallery, Skirts (2021-2022), a C3West project through the Museum of Contemporary Art and Penrith City Council and A Girl Like You (2022), a survey exhibition of recent and newly commissioned works at Penrith Regional Gallery. Linda has had a long history of facilitating workshops and community projects for numerous organisations and groups and is currently working as an artist mentor with We Are Studios, Blacktown.
Linda’s work has been presented in exhibitions and programs for Artspace, Sydney; Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre; Penrith Regional Gallery; Cementa; SafARI 2014; King Street Gallery, Sydney; and MOP, Sydney. She has completed a 2021-2023 artist residency with Parramatta Artists' Studios in Rydalmere, and in 2020 Brescia was awarded the Blacktown City Art Prize for her portrait of American patron of the arts Peggy Guggenheim. Her work is held in the collections of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery, Artcell Collection Management, Blacktown City Council and private collections.
01
Sep
30
Sep
When
1-30 Sep
Artwork is located at The Rocks Square
Artwork is located at The Rocks Square
Price
FREE
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