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Words: Sarah Ayoub; Lauren Sams; Noelle Faulkner.Photography:Bruised Peaches courtesy of This Is No Fantasy; Alamy
LEAH EMERY AND PETRINA HICKS
ARE TWO ARTISTS WORTH
PAYING ATTENTION TO,
NOT LEAST FOR HOW THEY’RE
SUBVERTING THE MALE GAZE BY
REFERENCING TRADITIONALLY
MALE-DOMINATED REALMS OF
PORN, PHOTOGRAPHY AND
ANCIENT SCULPTURESOFTLY SOFTLY PORN
Hand-woven orgies, embroidered
threesomes and delicately cross-
stitched smut; Brisbane-based
Leah Emery takes vintage
pornography, subverts its lewd
connotations, and reconstructs
the imagery into pixelated and
highly-textured cross-stitch works,
just like nanna would have made...
and yet very much not.
“THIS PROJECT CAMEabout
when I was working as a 3D modeller
in video game development and I was
emailed some particularly explicit
spam. I filed it away into an
innocuously named decoy folder
until I had the revelation that
a beautifully discordant way to
explore the unsolicited images
was through cross-stitch.”
“ONE OF THE REASONSI don’t
shy away from depicting sexual acts
is as a protest against the increasing
conservatism of the mainstream.
There have been so many cultural
advances in sexual openness that
it pains me to see this progress being
stripped back. My new work,Animal
Queendom, hints at reclamation of
female entitlement, and is a tip of the
hat to my LGBTQI heroes. The scenesshi ting
the
gaze
are a voyeuristic invitation to normalise
publicdiscussion around topics of
sexual intimacy.”
Leah Emery will presentAnimal
Queendomfrom November
1-December 1;michaelreid.com.auUNNATURAL BEAUTY
Having long explored classical beauty,
feminine ideals and identity, Sydney-
based photographer Petrina Hicks’
work is simultaneously hyper-real and
also unsettlingly surreal and allegorical.
“THE SYMBOLISM USEDto
portray female identity throughout art
history is fascinating. [My] works
explore the relationship between
ancient culture and contemporary
life, employing mythology, symbolism
and historical motifs.”
“THE EPHEMERAL NATUREof the
human condition is fascinating.
In comparison to the corporeal nature
of being human, the female subjects in
my work appear like ghostly avatars.
The viewer could be simultaneously
seduced and repulsed.”
“IN MY NEW SHOW,Still Life Studio,
I work with a traditional analogue
process, without the immediacy of
seeing the results while shooting [as with
digital]. The ideas remain metaphoric
and, like magic, they turn into matter
when the film is processed.”E
Petrina Hicks will presentStill Life
Studiofrom October 3-20;
thisisnofantasy.comused, including cause marketing (that is,
asking consumers to donate on top of
their purchase), rewards and the
promise of financial freedom.
“Cause marketing is an age-old
strategy designed to enhance the
appearance of the organisation,”
he says. “It softens the hard sales
approaches used to sell products
and recruit enrolees.” While some
businesses have merit, they do require
a hefty registration fee and utilise what
Miller says are “cult-like values”
to recruit others.
So why are many still captured by
the pull? Miller says it’s all part of selling
a dream. “People are promised the
opportunity to make money, create
a new lifestyle, become independent
and live the life they want,” he explains.
“[But] few can ever succeed in pyramid
schemes, and this often requires
exploiting others who are likely to
lose money and lots of time. Most
people will never reach the levels
required to access those perks and
change their life.”
Still, if all you want is a lavender oil
to help you sleep, or just to sell a few
bottles of lavender oil for a bit of
holiday cash, MLMs might just be
the ticket. Pass the cob dip.EARTS:"Bruised Peaches" by Petrina Hicks"Body of Evidence 2" by Leah Emery”THEY’RE NOW
NETWORKS OF
SAVVY WOMEN
WITH A TALENT FOR
21ST-CENTURY
HUSTLING, GOING
FROM BASE-LEVEL
TO BOSS”