Louella Kennedy
Wanderlust 2021
Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development
Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development
I practice the technique known as Verre églomisé an art form originating in the Middle Ages. It involves painting in reverse on glass/acetate and I use this technique in a deliberate contemporary way.
Part of the work in this exhibition is my attempt to delve deeper and understand neurodiversity and gender. Cartoons, like people, are prescribed a gender at conception… whether in the artists mind before pencil hits paper or when the image emerges. Why can’t cartoons be gender fluid … would people still relate to them?
What about the connection between neurodiversity and gender … a large amount of people on the spectrum struggle with gender identity… is this because gender is another social construct that the neuro diverse find hard to understand… because like much of the socially constructed world it doesn’t make sense?
Also included in the exhibition are various explorations into representations of women from early modern to contemporary times. Inspiration for these comes from questioning misogyny in the Western Philosophical tradition and the canon of classical literature. These include my self-portraits; erotic pop art and the series titled The Vanishing Vulva which explores how the ancient Greeks wrote women out of worship.
Finally, I also include my Typology project series of still life paintings of kitsch toys. These explore theories around feminist kitsch aesthetics, the division between craft and fine art, and resulting traditional delegation to craft of artwork created by women.
To view more of my work or to purchase visit: linktr.ee/louellakennedyart