Emily Winslade

This photographic series was made in collaboration with my Nana, Marlene Zyga. Using a range of knitted and crocheted pieces which she had completed over the years, I sewed them together to make a wearable piece. The style was inspired by 1960's and 1970's fashion with an emphasis on hyper-feminised colours and the photographs were taken in my Nana's front yard. 'Click Moment' refers to a 1970' term used to describe the feminist eureka moment; meaning a point in time when a women is awakened by the powerful idea of feminism.

This piece conceptually engages with gender stereotypes surrounding typically 'feminine' craft practices and is my artistic attempt to critique the exclusion and oppression of women, both historically and contemporarily. These forms of craftwork labelled as 'women’s work' includes knitting, embroidery and sewing. My Nana and I both knitted a range of pink and red panels that I then photographed in detail. This collaboration sparked conversations and allowed me to understand her own upbringing as a woman. Physical learning these techniques from my Nana also placed more focus on connection to materiality.

For this project, my partner and I worked collaboratively to create the composition which portrays intimate scenes of our relationship and its domesticity. On the sides of the paintings there are written transcripts of conversations that my partner and I had about our first date and significant memories of each other homes. Painting figures naked is my way of reclaiming the body by portraying it in a desexualised and natural state, unlike the unrealistic and toxic depictions of feminine bodies that have been created by historically acclaimed male artists. This piece is a love letter to my relationship and highlights how this connection has helped shape my identity as a queer woman.