Edited Books by Mimi Kelly
What is Performance Art? Australian Perspectives, 2018
Performance art, as we understand it today, began to come of age in the 1960s. At the same time, ... more Performance art, as we understand it today, began to come of age in the 1960s. At the same time, advertising and modern media technologies entered a new phase of global proliferation, and the cultural industries took on increased significance in people’s everyday lives. As such, the influence of pop culture, consumer items, advertising and design is not only manifest within the realm of pop art, but performance art as well. Some artists who were part of this new exploration of body-based art also drew inspiration from and sought to interrogate popular culture, the technologies around it and the experiences that derive from it. Since then, performance artists have increasingly continued to reference, re-appropriate and repurpose multiple elements of popular culture in their creative interpretations.
What is Performance Art? Australian Perspectives brings together texts from Australia’s most prom... more What is Performance Art? Australian Perspectives brings together texts from Australia’s most prominent theorists in the field together with major exponents of performance art themselves, creating a critical archive, and dialogue, that stand as central document of Australian performance art’s first fifty years.
Performance art in Australia now has a long and rich history that until only recently has been situated within the larger narrative of Australian art. It is a practice that has engaged with important issues of the self and being and remains at the epicentre of expressions of gender, politics and the nature of communication itself.
Transient in nature, performance art is also mobile, economical and elastic. Unlike other Australian traditions (such as landscape painting), there has never been a question of what is distinctively Australian about it. This is because Australian performance art has always inhabited an international framework. But still, it is worth asking: what is the nature and contribution of Australian performance art from the 1970s until the present day?
Chapters by Mimi Kelly
The Body Beautiful?: Identity, Performance, Fashion and the Contemporary Female Body Critical issues (Oxford, England): Ethos Hub Critical issues, 2015
No two aesthetics rile and attract quite like the converged aesthetics of the beautiful and the g... more No two aesthetics rile and attract quite like the converged aesthetics of the beautiful and the grotesque, particularly in representations of the female form. For many, the allure of both such aesthetics is at odds with personal morals and ideological anxieties informed by second wave feminism that perceive the perusal of beauty as narcissistic or oppressive, and disapprove of beauty in art as vacuous or the grotesque as simply a form of 'shock tactics.' In the work of many early feminist artists, the sexual appeal and abject 'otherness' of women's bodies was explored in artwork that drew certain criticism, particularly for what was seen as self-objectification. Today many critics, however, regard such work as significant for its reformulation of notions of the sexualised and beautified female body within the historically exclusive realm of male sexual desires. This chapter will begin by contextualising this argument through references to the work of American body-based artist Hannah Wilke. It will then go on to argue that more recently, women artists who similarly explore the sexually alluring and beautified body encroached upon by elements of the grotesque, sinister or perverse, receive equally varied critique. Framing discussions around the work of two contemporary Australian artists, Jane Burton and Monika Tichacek, who actively explore this converged aesthetic in their own specific way, this chapter will go on to put forward a more layered appreciation of such visually arresting creative practice. In considering more porous yet constructive methods of interpreting art that engages with the body beautiful in alternate and transgressive modes, this chapter will posit that the dynamic artistic exploration of the paradoxes of attraction and repulsion operates to both resist essentialist views of women and challenge assumptions as to the nature of female sexuality and fantasy.
Magazine Article by Mimi Kelly
Artist Profile Magazine, 2023
Markela Panegyres is a performance, installation, and video artist based on Gadigal land. The his... more Markela Panegyres is a performance, installation, and video artist based on Gadigal land. The history of her practice is extended performances involving quotidian repetitions that warp into the absurd.
Try Hard Magazine , 2015
We know that photography is not merely the result of a process or an apparatus but also, always, ... more We know that photography is not merely the result of a process or an apparatus but also, always, the product of intention, selection, editing, chance, desire, convention and ideology: a cultural object, in other words, the outcome of human will and interest.
Art Monthly Magazine, 2014
Peer Reviewed Conference Papers by Mimi Kelly
4th Annual Conference, Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand, 2013
Since the inception of film the thrilling potential of horror has featured prominently, almost al... more Since the inception of film the thrilling potential of horror has featured prominently, almost always treading a fine line between the erotic and the macabre. Whilst these powerfully entwined forces have been explored on many levels within the realm of moving image, it is perhaps within the genre of music video that we see this conjoined aesthetic so actively envisaged. Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and Paparazzi, and Rihanna's Disturbia follow Madonna's Justify My Love and What it Feels Like for A Girl in their disturbing/captivating expression of aggressive sexuality and brutality through a series of fabricated personas. Drawing the ire of some for what is perceived as vacuous and dangerous exhibitionism, these concerns echo in unfavorable critique. Conversely, reading into these videos primarily by means of objective analysis disregards the pointed layering of themes and stylistic devices that operate as both forceful rupturing and heightened of codes of allurement, power and female sexuality, and active re-configuration of normative states of being. Framing discussions around the videos detailed above, this paper considers if the appeal of spectacle could be argued as significant for the powerful responses it engenders (attraction and repulsion – including moral disapproval) and the cultural anxieties and prejudices relating to gender and sexuality this response consequently brings to the fore.
Exhibition Catalogue Essays by Mimi Kelly
CACASA exhibition catalogue, 2015
In John Dewey’s 1934 book Art as Experience, the author argues for an understanding of art where ... more In John Dewey’s 1934 book Art as Experience, the author argues for an understanding of art where the experience of making is given equal significance to the material outcome. Dewey’s emphasis on the creative process does not take away from the value of the art object itself though. Instead, he identifies the importance of the dialectical processes of making/experimenting being brought forth in the object.
A - M GALLERY exhibition catalogue, 2014
Through his analogue photographic conjuring of the Blue Mountains for the series 'I get some terr... more Through his analogue photographic conjuring of the Blue Mountains for the series 'I get some terrible frights here', Kurt Sorensen triggers in the audience an uneasy amalgam of colonially informed fear of the Australian landscape as treacherously ‘other’, and a fundamental awe of nature.
SASA Gallery exhibition catalogue, 2009
Spanning the surreal, uncanny through to the hyper-sexualised and overtly agitated body, the arti... more Spanning the surreal, uncanny through to the hyper-sexualised and overtly agitated body, the artists curated in this exhibition use luscious and sinister landscapes, contexts, styling and sensual devises referencing powerful and polemic atmospheric genres, including lm noir, surrealism, the macabre and porn, to explore the body and its potential (or lack of) sexuality, condition and experience.
Book Reviews by Mimi Kelly
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2018
In a 1925 article on the flower paintings of well-known Australian artist Hans Heysen, prominent ... more In a 1925 article on the flower paintings of well-known Australian artist Hans Heysen, prominent critic Lionel Lindsay, while highly admiring of Heysen's work, described flowers themselves as the ‘apotheosis of Useless Beauty’. Taking this as her critical point of departure, Ann Elias argues that, far from being useless, flowers were in fact of great importance to Australia artists of the pre-modern and modern era.
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2018, 2018
In Reparative Aesthetics: Witnessing in Contemporary Art
Photography, Susan Best poses two key, o... more In Reparative Aesthetics: Witnessing in Contemporary Art
Photography, Susan Best poses two key, overlapping questions:
how can photography address the subject of historical
shame without alienating its audience? How can strategies
that draw on affect and aesthetic allurement, above didactic
messaging, elicit deeper reflection on historical cultural
wrongdoing, and our relationship to it? In answering these
questions, Best turns to the work of four female photographers:
Anne Ferran (Australia), Fiona Pardington (New
Zealand), Ros^angela Renno (Brazil) and Milagros de la Torre
(Peru).
Refereed Journal Articles by Mimi Kelly
Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , 2016
The now famous Belle d'Opium Eau de parfum campaign of Yves Saint Laurent Beauty featuring a nake... more The now famous Belle d'Opium Eau de parfum campaign of Yves Saint Laurent Beauty featuring a naked Sophie Dahl has provoked both derision and titillation in audiences since its release in 2000. On the one hand, the image is clearly sexually alluring. On the other, the subject's nakedness also provokes male fear of the female body as a site of difference, that is, castration, and demonstrates a reclaiming of female eroticism from the traditional domain of male sexual desires – a 'grotesque' display of female self-pleasure in defiance of the male gaze. For this reason, the advert captures particularly well the paradox of woman as both an object of attraction and a site for culturally informed moral reprehension through this mode of defiance. This article examines how the advert works on multiple registers, not only drawing attention to deep social and cultural anxieties that exist in relation to the female body but importantly also demonstrating an active reclaiming of women's libidinal pleasure and 'grotesque' bodily 'difference'. In this sense, the article argues that the Opium advert can be interpreted as a site of active transgression of strict moral and normative gender expectations, along the lines of Mary Russo's concept of the 'female grotesque'. In analysing this particular quality of the advert, the article goes on to suggest that the image works particularly well to challenge patriarchal conceptions of women, and yet the subject's clear sexual attraction also defies traditional feminist interpretations of female objectification. It is precisely because of the moral ambiguity attached to the advert that it acts as a valuable site of discussion on how female agency can be interpreted through conditions traditionally seen as 'objectifying'.
Journal of Romance Studies, 2023
In 1929, the founder of the surrealist movement, André Breton, stated that ‘the problem of woman ... more In 1929, the founder of the surrealist movement, André Breton, stated that ‘the problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world.’ The female body was appropriated as a central motif of surrealism, particularly as a metaphoric representation of transgression. This included the fragmented body, and portrayed woman as eroticized and fetishized. While female surrealists similarly used recurring tropes, they often co-opted them in order to subvert male privilege and bring significant new insight to female selfhood. Today, artists continue to draw on surrealist aesthetics in their mediation of female experience. This can particularly be observed in the music videos of certain popular female musicians. This article examines examples by Angèle, FKA Twigs, and St Vincent to demonstrate how surrealism has expanded into popular visual culture as an effective means to convey subversive feminist commentary. It discusses the manner in which these contemporary artists draw the modernist avant-garde, less as simply a style than, rather, ideologically. In doing so, the article sheds light on the powerful legacy of surrealism and its enduring value in addressing potent topics relating to the logical/illogical realm of the subconscious, body politics concerning genders and race, and the psychosexual.
TV/Series, “Series and stars”, 20, 2022 [online] https://journals.openedition.org/tvseries/5900, 2022
This article discusses Camille Cottin’s star image, considering more specifically what was at sta... more This article discusses Camille Cottin’s star image, considering more specifically what was at stake in her 2019 performance in Mouche, the French remake of British tragicomedy TV series Fleabag created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The framework of this remake and the transposition of Cottin in the character played by Waller-Bridge offers a discussion on the representation of female sexuality and gender through the main character of Mouche and Fleabag. It argues that the nexus of Cottin’s gendered stardom both meets and transgresses the ideals of the cinematic type of the Parisienne, which may lead to think that Cottin was the perfect fit to be the French version of Fleabag. However, as Mouche, her persona gestures toward the projection of a female subjectivity that escapes inscription into the French cultural imagination and social practices. Drawing from theories of the abject and the female grotesque as a subversive strategy to challenge gendered expectations in Fleabag, this article sheds light on how effectively this is transposed to Cottin’s version of the character. It also considers how the strategy of breaking the fourth wall, which creates a personalised connection with the character of Fleabag, mimics the personalised and intimate connection to celebrities that social media now offers. The article suggests that Cottin’s on-screen persona competes with her star image, threatening to eradicate the space of spectatorial jouissance necessary for the processes of cinematic identification and intimate connection.
Conference Presentations by Mimi Kelly
AAANZ annual conference (Art Association of Australia and New Zealand) ‘Impact’, Sydney, Australia, Online, 2021
In 1929 founder of the Surrealist movement, André Breton, stated that “the problem of woman is th... more In 1929 founder of the Surrealist movement, André Breton, stated that “the problem of woman is the most marvellous and disturbing problem in all the world.” The female body was appropriated as a central motif of Surrealism, particularly as metaphoric representation of transgression. This included the fragmented body, and woman as eroticised and fetishised. While female surrealists similarly used recurring tropes, they often co-opted them in order to subvert male privilege and significantly bring new insight to female selfhood. Today, artists continue to draw on surrealist aesthetics in their mediation of female experience. This can particularly be observed in the music videos of popular female musicians. This paper examines examples by St Vincent (US), Angèle (Belgian) and FKA Twigs (UK), to demonstrate how Surrealism has expanded into popular visual culture as an effective means to convey subversive feminist commentary. It discusses the manner in which these contemporary artists draw the modernist avant garde, less as simply a style but also ideologically. In doing so, the paper sheds light on the powerful legacy of Surrealism and its enduring value in addressing potent topics relating to the logical/illogical realm of the subconscious, body politics concerning genders and race, and the psychosexual.
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Edited Books by Mimi Kelly
Performance art in Australia now has a long and rich history that until only recently has been situated within the larger narrative of Australian art. It is a practice that has engaged with important issues of the self and being and remains at the epicentre of expressions of gender, politics and the nature of communication itself.
Transient in nature, performance art is also mobile, economical and elastic. Unlike other Australian traditions (such as landscape painting), there has never been a question of what is distinctively Australian about it. This is because Australian performance art has always inhabited an international framework. But still, it is worth asking: what is the nature and contribution of Australian performance art from the 1970s until the present day?
Chapters by Mimi Kelly
Magazine Article by Mimi Kelly
Peer Reviewed Conference Papers by Mimi Kelly
Exhibition Catalogue Essays by Mimi Kelly
Book Reviews by Mimi Kelly
Photography, Susan Best poses two key, overlapping questions:
how can photography address the subject of historical
shame without alienating its audience? How can strategies
that draw on affect and aesthetic allurement, above didactic
messaging, elicit deeper reflection on historical cultural
wrongdoing, and our relationship to it? In answering these
questions, Best turns to the work of four female photographers:
Anne Ferran (Australia), Fiona Pardington (New
Zealand), Ros^angela Renno (Brazil) and Milagros de la Torre
(Peru).
Refereed Journal Articles by Mimi Kelly
Conference Presentations by Mimi Kelly
Performance art in Australia now has a long and rich history that until only recently has been situated within the larger narrative of Australian art. It is a practice that has engaged with important issues of the self and being and remains at the epicentre of expressions of gender, politics and the nature of communication itself.
Transient in nature, performance art is also mobile, economical and elastic. Unlike other Australian traditions (such as landscape painting), there has never been a question of what is distinctively Australian about it. This is because Australian performance art has always inhabited an international framework. But still, it is worth asking: what is the nature and contribution of Australian performance art from the 1970s until the present day?
Photography, Susan Best poses two key, overlapping questions:
how can photography address the subject of historical
shame without alienating its audience? How can strategies
that draw on affect and aesthetic allurement, above didactic
messaging, elicit deeper reflection on historical cultural
wrongdoing, and our relationship to it? In answering these
questions, Best turns to the work of four female photographers:
Anne Ferran (Australia), Fiona Pardington (New
Zealand), Ros^angela Renno (Brazil) and Milagros de la Torre
(Peru).