SPACE 2 :

ELLA RIZZI AND

AMY PONTIFEX

Exhibition dates. 30 March - 10 April, 2022
Opening Reception : Thur 31 March 2022, 6:00 - 8.30pm.

The work exhibited in ‘Becoming Women’ involves both ceramics and painted artworks that aim to explore the experiences of young women growing up in an over-sexualised world. As young, emerging artists, we want to visually portray our own experiences as women in order to deconstruct gender norms and social expectations. We have put together a powerful body of work that we hope will challenge our audience.

Ella Rizzi works in oil paint to explore the theme of growing women and their identities in society. The nude form is a reoccurring image in this series of works, intended as a celebration of the strength and beauty of the female body and encouraging the normalization of different body types and shapes. The works are an addition to the limited selection of female bodies shown in media that being which body shape is “in trend” at the current moment to reflect the actual range of normal and natural bodies, in hopes of deconstructing the physical expectations placed on woman daily. Ella’s figures are exposed and vulnerable as she makes the audience stare at them and pick them apart, unconsciously judging and comparing them.

Amy Pontifex explores the theme of identity and documents personal experiences of growing up in today’s society. The work she has created for this exhibition is highly focused on storytelling, inspired by ancient cultures that use painted vessels to communicate and share ancestral and religious stories. Amy’s chosen medium of ceramics aids in emphasising the idea of passing down messages and historical narratives through generations. The illustrations and text on the works are relative to the concept of ‘Becoming Women’, exploring body image, media impact, gender roles and various other factors that affect young women.

Ella and Amy draw on their own experiences as well as those around them to address what it means to be a woman portraying both the hardships and the celebration of the female body.