Where: Field Trip Gallery
1 Latrobe Tce, Paddington
When: August 8th - August 13th
Opening event: Friday 8th August, 6:00 – 9:00 PM
𝗩𝗶𝗲𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀:
Friday: 10am - 4pm, 6pm - 9pm (OPENING)
Saturday: 10am - 4pm
Sunday: 10am - 4pm
Monday: 10am - 4pm
Tuesday: 10am - 4pm
Wednesday: 10am - 3pm
FERTILE TERRAINS
Diane Green + Leisa Turner + Pat Malt
Diane Green
Leisa Turner
Pat Malt
FERTILE TERRAINS brings together three Queensland College of Art and Design graduates Leisa Turner, Diane Green, and Pat Malt. Through diverse practices of photography, embroidery, ceramics, drawing and painting they invite viewers to consider the unseen labour of neurodivergent masking, the deification of acts of care, and subversive narratives around the reimagined female form.
Leisa Turner’s practice delves into the intergenerational experience of neurodivergence, focusing on the often-invisible labour of “masking.” Her staged photographic portraits, featuring a handmade ceramic mask within a domestic setting, convey the emotional constraint and performative tension of navigating social expectations. Complementing these are textile pieces created from salvaged Sportsgirl duffle bags, adorned with gold embroidered phrases of internalized criticism. Inspired by Kintsugi, these works transform perceived flaws into symbols of self-acceptance and resilience, offering a raw and intimate look at inherited strength and the beauty found in vulnerability.
Diane Green elevates acts of care and nurturance to a status of value and mindful veneration. Her 24 ceramic pieces draw on pre-Christian and Christian iconographies to highlight the sacredness of acts of mothering ie tending protecting and fostering life. Many of the works eg Yoni Vessel and Madonna of the Serpents challenge conventional depictions of the Virgin Mary to place her in more earthly realms. In other works, metamorphosed figures divest the act of mothering from exclusive biological connection so that mothering becomes a shared responsibility across all genders for all vulnerable life forms.
Pat Malt, working across drawing, painting, and cameraless photography, presents dysgraphic images of naked women. Her practice actively disrupts traditional ideals of female beauty and asserts women’s power through a distinctly feminist lens. Malt’s work challenges established iconography, offering alternative possibilities and perspectives on the female form. She invites viewers to re-evaluate societal expectations and embrace a more expansive understanding of female identity.
From the quiet but radical resilience of navigating neurodivergence and the devotional re-evaluation of acts of care to the subversive reimagining of the female body “Fertile Terrains” offers an intimate perspective on contemporary female experience. It is also a celebration of the fecund spark that drives each of these female artists to create and share that experience.