Sally Smart conceives of the studio space as analogous to a rehearsal space—a site where she can choreograph the myriad ideas and elements that form her work, and test their formal and material concerns. At a given moment the constituents might include performers, puppets, pirate ships or philosophers, with associative images and texts connecting or unravelling in various states of construction and reconstruction. Movement and process are described and documented in image and lm, by drawing and mapping, but especially through cutting—a transitional and transformative process she employs to yield change. And, as Smart has noted: as a feminist artist, this is political.
The Margaret Lawrence Gallery is excited to present Staging the Studio by Vice Chancellor Fellow Sally Smart. Whilst Sally’s investigations of the body, cultural heritage and pedagogy have been shown in Australian and international museum contexts, they have a special resonance here, within an art school. We are indebted to Professor Glyn Davies, Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, the External Relations team and the Directorate of the Victorian College of the Arts for their assistance in bringing this project to fruition. We thank Vikki McInnes for her thoughtful commentary and warmly congratulate Sally on this ambitious and imaginative drawing together of themes that are at once personal and shared, localised and global.
Exhibition Catalogue
Download the catalogue [PDF, 250kb]