The Body in Question: Works from the Monash University Collection

About the exhibition
The dual purpose of this exhibition was to re-examine selected works from the Monash University Collection through a contemporary theoretical lens, and to present a number of recent acquisitions that engage directly with current thinking on the subjects of the body and the self. The selected works were positioned within the context of new philosophies of the body and its intersections with sex, politics and technology. Key theoretical frameworks included Elizabeth Grosz’s concept of the body as a cultural construct, and Anne Marsh’s characterisation of new technologies as occupying a peculiarly hermaphroditic space within our consciousness.

From this vantage point, John Brack’s 1982 lithographic studies of the nude acquire renewed significance, while the perceived essentialism of Fiona Orr’s womb-like Sanctuary,1983, invites critical reappraisal. Other key works such as Juan Davila’s Self-portrait as Ingre’s Violin, 1984, and Robyn Stacey’s Single Vision, 1991, were shown to fragment and internalise notions of corporeality and self-representation.

MUMA Online Exhibition Archive
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^{Image: Juan Davila, Self Portrait as Ingres' Violin 1984, gelatin silver photograph, 60.5 x 51 cm. Monash University Collection, Melbourne}