Five mature women artists are responding to Laura Mitchell’s provocation to destabilise the idea of a wall. The collaborative exhibition emerges from discussions between Laura Mitchell, Sarah Robinson, Annette Nykiel, Gale Thackeray and Tania Ferrier concerning the notion of ‘wall’. In the last five years, the wall has become a prominent International symbol, for example Trump’s US-Mexico wall, the ruined walls of Syria and the Middle East and those that impede migration across Europe. However, the wall need not be a physical barrier as gender, age, class, cultural and social beliefs and economic circumstances are also barriers that may create walls. The goal of this exhibition is to metaphorically disrupt the notion of wall as a barrier.

In this exhibition, the wall need not be a physical place but a response to Mitchell’s provocation in a place—an art space—where art is often displayed on or against walls. The artists use their experiences with different forms of wall to individually interpret the notion using art forms including painting, printmaking, installation and digital images. Each artist brings their unique response to the architecture of PSAS. Is the wall to keep you in, lock you out, protect or exclude? Is the wall going up or coming down? Is it an illusion or an allusion? Does the wall have an aesthetic role as structure/artefact?

This project is supported by the WA Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC). Mitchell’s work made with support from the Fremantle Arts Centre Artist in Residence Program. Materials from HVG Graphics Media, and Vital Line CNC Routing & Engraving, WA.

Image credit:
Model-maker: Oliver Chambers
Photographer: Ian Yendell