Julie Rapp (Art Forum)

Abstract

Art Forum July 29th 2011. The Body as M-E-D-I-U-M In response to the exhibition Journeys at Plimsoll Galleries I would like to take up Paul Zika’s suggestion that my work since the beginning has been a “journey of my body”. Recently I was asked to write on some new work that I am developing and in conclusion I stated: My body, as practice, has been empathetic host, critical trickster and active agent in challenging representations of the female body. I would therefore like to make a ‘journey’ through aspects of my practice that highlight these notions of the body/my body as M-E-D-I-U-M. I stress this word because it has playful connotations from the supernatural to the ordinary but mostly it suggests for me a sense of transmission or passage; a liminal site that is fluid and adaptable. Julie Rrap has been a major figure in Australian contemporary art for thirty years. Since the mid-1970s, she has worked with photography, painting, sculpture, performance and video in an on-going project concerned with representations of the body. She lived and worked in Europe between 1986 -1994. Rrap's works are held in every major public collection in Australia as well as many corporate and private collections in Australia and overseas. She currently exhibits with Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney and Arc 1 Gallery, Melbourne.