If.... Dawn Woolley

28 July - 14 August 2010

<i>Cut to the Measure of Desire</i>, performance at g39, 2010
Cut to the Measure of Desire, performance at g39, 2010

Cardiff-based Dawn Woolley’s practice encompasses photography, video, installation and performance, using photographs of objects and people to question issues of artificiality and idealisation.

Primarily Woolley’s artwork is self-portraiture, but not in the traditional sense. She has developed a distinctive, unmistakable practice in which she creates a photographic copy of herself and places it in the real world, becoming a substitute and her visual representative.

In Cut To The Measure Of Desire, Woolley extends this illusion into the realms of performance and installation, constructing a scene reminiscent of the still life, placing herself at the centre of the view whilst attempting to hold up the photographic imagery around her. Staging the twenty-minute-plus enactment Woolley’s tableau is framed by g39’s Victorian shop window. Immersed amongst an intricate scene of butchery, Woolley presents herself as an imperfect being concealed within a 2-dimensional idealised world.

Each gesture and prop is carefully chosen to symbolise promiscuity, commerce and desire. Reminiscent of the traditions of still-life painting and the tableau-vivant, Dawn poses within the scene - an imperfect being concealed within a 2-dimensional idealised world. The aim to uphold the illusion of perfection is futile and the codes of desire crumble under the weight of the spectator’s gaze.

This show was selected by
  • Michael Cousin
    • <i>Cut to the Measure of Desire</i>, performance at g39, 2010
    • <i>Cut to the Measure of Desire</i>, performance at g39, 2010
    • <i>Cut to the Measure of Desire</i>, performance at g39, 2010

    Programme