Margaret Ackland, Drycleaning 2010
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Margaret Ackland and Flinders Lane Gallery 2011 Australia
Margaret Ackland - Histories
Flinders Lane Gallery
Tuesday 22 February 2011 to Saturday 12 March 2011
Margaret Ackland’s meticulous paintings investigate ideas of identity through a detailed examination of historical clothing. These studies explore the ways in which identity is formally created and structured by the clothing that we wear, and how, in the reverse process, the self imprints back into a garment, retaining a memory of its wearer.
Through this intangible and evocative two way process, the symbolic weight of clothing is apparent – it can make us appear or disappear, it can control, constrain, mask, titillate, make external what is internal, and hide what is otherwise obvious. One step further back, we might also imagine how the garments themselves function as objects to be viewed, enjoyed, desired, and possessed.
Margaret Ackland is represented in a range of national collections including Artbank, the Holmes a Court Collection and Deakin University. She has won and been a five time finalist in the Portia Geach Portrait Prize, a Blake Prize finalist and has had her work featured in Italian Vogue and on ABC TV ’s Compass series.
Recently Margaret has been invited to participate in a touring artist expedition organised by Artist Profile magazine.
