Issue 27: Outside
The Furies is a public art project by Kate Just in response to violence against women. It comprises a series of twelve towering banners of women across the façade of the St Kilda Town Hall. Shot in a local park, the images depict diverse women from the community in poses of self-defence. The Furies projects a vision of women’s resilience and feelings of mourning about violence into the public sphere.
Just created The Furies on a Rupert Bunny Visual Art Fellowship, a biennial award granted to an artist in the City of Port Phillip to pursue a new direction in practice or develop a substantial body of work. The moody, elemental images of The Furies sustain their titular connection to Greek myth. The Greek Furies were deities of vengeance, born of night, or sky, and sought justice against those who had murdered family. Nestled between the architecture of the town hall, the banners also refer to caryatids, or sculpted female figures which act as supporting columns in ancient Greek architecture. Just’s Furies revise the caryatids’ passive role, as they appear to launch out from the building.
All images:
Kate Just The Furies, 2015, St Kilda Town Hall, digital print on satin polyester, keder rope edge, sail track. Banners are 400cm (h) x 130cm (w) each. Photographs by Simon Strong.
Kate Just is an American-born Australian artist best known for elaborate knitted sculptural works, mixed media installations and community engaged art projects that contend with representations of women in art, myth and contemporary culture. Just interweaves historical, autobiographical and subjective narratives through her highly crafted works, manifesting a vision of female embodiment, intimacy, agency and hope.
Just holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Sculpture) from Monash University, a Master of Arts from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she has been a Lecturer in Art since 2005. Just has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia including at Daine Singer, Craft Victoria, West Space, Gertrude Contemporary, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Art Fair, Silvershot, Contemporary Art Space Tasmania, Chalk Horse Gallery, First Draft, MOP, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, and Canberra Contemporary Art Space. Internationally, Just has exhibited her work at Nanjing University, Auckland Art Fair, AC Institute New York, and the Factory at Kunsthalle Krems, Austria. In 2015-16 Just will exhibit her work internationally at Gallery Titanik in Turku, Finland, Chasm in New York City and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo.
Just has been the recipient of numerous grants and prizes. She has been awarded funding for new work by the City of Melbourne, Arts Victoria and the Australia Council for the Arts. For her studio led PhD project, Just was the 2013 recipient of the Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal. Just was the winner of the 2007 Siemens Travel Award, the 2012 British Council Realise Your Dream Award and the 2013 Rupert Bunny Visual Arts Fellowship. She has undertaken local residencies at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Lake Macquarie Gallery, Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Australian Tapestry Workshop and held international residencies at Krems (AIR), the Australia Council Studio Barcelona, and will undertake a residency in 2016 at Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo. Just’s work is held in private and public collections including Artbank, Ergas Collection, City of Port Phillip, Ararat Regional Art Gallery and Proclaim Management Collection.
Kate Just is represented by Daine Singer.
Her work can be viewed at http://www.katejust.com or http://www.dainesinger.com/kate-just
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway Journal is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Runway Journal receives project support from the NSW Government through Create NSW.
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches. We extend this acknowledgement to all First Nations artists, writers and audiences.
Runway Journal is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Runway Journal receives project support from the NSW Government through Create NSW.