Daughters of the Empire is a body of sculptural and photographic work that explores the role of women of the British Empire in Australia and further afield.
The title is borrowed from the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire [IODE], a Canadian organisation formed in 1900 to promote British patriotism, support the Boer war effort and serve the empire. This exhibition examines the complex 'feminine' imperialism of women of the British Empire as a marginal group within an otherwise privileged elite in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when colonial expansion had reached its peak and the drive for decolonisation took on increasing urgency in the lands that the British invaded.
Ambivalent figures such as Daisy Bates, self-proclaimed 'grandmother' [Kabbarli] of the Indigenous peoples of Western Australia, are depicted as wax sculptures referencing antiquated museum dioramas and disreputable historical tourism such as Madame Tussauds. Other figures such as the naturalist Helena Scott and Mrs Dance, the woman selected to make the first cut in a tree felled to mark the founding of the Swan River Colony [Perth] in 1829, are also depicted.
The exhibition also examines themes such as the role of women's reproductive abilities in building post-Federation Australia, in which the cry of 'populate or perish' corresponded with the goals of the Immigration Restriction Act [a.k.a. the White Australia Policy]. Several images reference the claustrophobic interiors of Victorian drawing rooms; the ornamental elements within the composition cite colonial aesthetics, in which the exotic is desired and the familiar is forcibly imposed. Through such devices the series alludes to a repressed narrative of colonial violence which haunts the official history of the British Empire. [Excerpts from artist statement, September 2014]
Thea Costantino is also a gifted writer, playwright, lyricist and producer. She has a PhD from Curtin University and currently works for their School of Art and Design as a lecturer. Thea also collaborates with Tarryn Gill and Pilar Mata Dupont as part of the collective Hold Your Horses
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- TURNER GALLERIES | showcasing contemporary art
at 470 WILLIAM STREET NORTHBRIDGE WESTERN AUSTRALIA 6003 - TURNER GALLERIES HAS NOW CLOSED.
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