JULIA HOLDEN – NEWLY FORMED – 26 Aug-20 Sept 2019

  
Newly Formed presents two bodies of work produced while Julia Holden was artist-in-residence at Tylee Cottage, Whanganui, 2018, plus two additional portraits. Of the performance portraits, the first five form a suite based on original portraits by New Zealand artists that were part of Sarjeant Gallery’s exhibition, ‘125 Celebrating Women: Works from the Collection.’ This exhibition opened during the first week of her five-month stay in Whanganui.
….“I had planned to continue the theme begun with fanfiction; new works referencing still life paintings by well-known Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. 2018 marked the celebration of 125 years of Women’s Suffrage in New Zealand and this, in tandem with my experience of living in the picture-perfect historic Tylee Cottage, got me thinking about what is considered ‘women’s work’ and the value of that work, be it domestic or creative. If Giorgio was ‘Giorgia,’ what would be the familiar every-day household objects ‘she’ would choose to paint?
These works represent the beginnings of this exploration.”