Sharon Green - It Was to Become the Darkest Night
May 18 - June 05
"During 2004 I was fortunate to be able to spend almost 3 months overseas for the Unfinished Journey project. I have always had a strong interest in history and this project enabled me to travel and experience some of these histories and stories that intrigue me. I am particularly fascinated by periods of excess and decadence, such as the Baroque, and how people have related to the environments they inhabit. The opportunity to travel to experience these histories lead me to Argentina and Spain. The historical link between the two countries provided an fascinating view of latin cultures with passion, life and death being prevailing characteristics of the both cultures.
I began investigating trophy hunting, as a predominantly male preoccupation, and the parallels between this sport practiced throughout history and the rituals of courtship, marriage and sexuality. This parallels some of the issues I have investigated in previous works. This dichotomous role of the woman as both decoration and decorator (referring to household duties) can be compared to trophy hunting and a proud displaying of the brave hunter's fragmented win on the wall. The often fragmented animal's body when mounted on the wall is suggestive of the way the desired woman's body is fragmented in some pornography. This fetishistic approach the female representation is aggressive but can act as an effective tool for creating 'a highly charged metaphor for the psychological, social, political and physical assaults on the individual (Posner 1992:22)'.
The 'thrill of the chase', a term often used when describing a new courtship also mimics the exhilaration felt by the hunter when stalking the prey. In this series I am also interested in the theories of otherness and the exotic and how they relate to young women in both historical and contemporary contexts."
Sharon Green, Brisbane, 2005
Posner, H (1992) 'Seperation
Anxiety' in MIT List Visual Arts Centre (ed.) Corporal Politics, Massachusetts:Beacon
Press.
A special thank you to the
following people:
Matt Dywer
Andrea and Sophie at Metro 5
Brian, Barry and Michael at Metro 5
Ken McGregor
Santiago Ussher
Tommy Ussher
Sebastian Caldi
Jordi Abentin
Tony Hiller
George and Narelle Robinson
