SPACE: 2
Pleasure Project 2023
Exhibition dates. 25 Jan - 5 Feb 2023
Opening Reception : Fri 27 Jan 2022, 6:00 - 8.30pm.
PLEASURE PROJECT 2023
Pleasure Project is a queer creative partnership between curators Tor Evans and Madeline Ferme, founded in response to the lack of meaningful, diverse and genuine representation of queer women and gender diverse people in art. Its mission is to elevate the art and voices of queer women and gender diverse people through meaningful exhibitions and creative projects.
I Admire, I Desire is Pleasure Project’s second exhibition, bringing together over thirty works from twelve artists, both local and international. The exhibition takes its cue from a common conundrum faced by queer women and gender diverse people —"do I want to be them, or do I want to be with them?" For many queer identifying people, the line between admiration and romantic or sexual desire can be blurred, particularly as the heteronormative society we are raised in so often blocks us from contemplating the latter. While the admire/desire phenomenon can be viewed as a product of the constraints of heteronormativity, this exhibition finds freedom, beauty, humour, joy and complexity in these liminal spaces.
There is not one singular way to encounter the admire/desire conundrum, as they are not binary opposites. Artists featured in the exhibition highlight a broad spectrum of these experiences, including admiring and desiring oneself throughout transition, experiencing self-pleasure and fantasy, exploring attraction in queer friendships, as well as respecting and caring for sexual and romantic partners.
By drawing together works that explore the fluidity and complexity of admiration and desire from a queer intersectional lens, I Admire, I Desire celebrates the nuances of queer intimacies and identities.
The exhibition features work by local and international artists Cat Jones, Clitopatra, Frances Cannon, Ggggrimes, J Davies, Jasmine Crisp, Kitty Chrystal, Laura Du Vé, Little Eyes Alien, Sara Lorusso, Shreya Shetty and Wee Moody Judy.
CURATORS
Madeline Ferme
Tor Evans
@pleasureproject.art
