Sarah Murphy
My practice works at unbinding systems of social class, gender and ability through soft sculpture. As a female maker, I integrate craft and labour-intensive techniques in order to promote self-agency and ownership in a creative practice. I challenge existing hierarchies within art making by presenting work that speaks clearly of trade, class and comfort. By merging trade skills like upholstery and screenprinting with an aesthetics of luxury and pop culture messaging, my work questions the subsequent navigation of unconscious assumptions and conscious social value judgements within a western framework.
Each sculpture borrows from the idea of comfort, relating to upholstery and the upholstered space; in vehicle cabins, for example. The works are plush and fulsome, nurturing thoughts of touch and how comfort can be sought in a discomforting public setting. I utilise an aesthetics of the familiar and comfort to explore how identity can be constructed or alluded to through aesthetic choices. For some, these choices can prove an allegiance to a certain gender or social grouping, and it’s this notion that is challenged through the utilisation and appropriation of certain skills and materials. Furthermore, male dominated skills and visual language are manipulated to summon alternate possibilities.
Avs 20km/h, 2020
Glitter screenprint, velvet, particleboard, metal chain, cogs, bike pedal, reclaimed wood, sponge and padding
760mm x 870mm x 300mm
Ultimate, Ultim8 on Bell St, Coburg, 2020
Glitter screenprint, velvet, particle board, reclaimed wood, foam and padding
Qualitative, 2018
Velvet, reclaimed wood, foam and padding
380mm x 510mm x 180mm
Lovin' You, 2017
Glitter screenprint, velvet, metal chain, reclaimed wood and padding
370mm x 500mm x 50mm
Avs 20km/h, 2020
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