Next week, Friday 8th March 2024, will be International Women’s Day. HiveArts in Blackpool will be holding an exhibition of artworks, Women by Women. ‘The Female Gaze’. There will be talks from:

• Kate Yates – ‘The Rogue Chromosome’ 9th March 13:30
• VR Session courtesy of Blackpool Libraries with Amanda Aiton. Friday 15 March From 13:00-15:00.
• Carole Patterson – ‘Offering support when life goes Tits Up’ 16 March 13:30
• Reclaim – ‘Women In Art’ 23 March 13:30

I am lucky enough to have a project included in the exhibition. At the beginning of the year, I wrote how I wanted to do more projects, this is the first one I have ‘finished’. It took me a while to think of an idea and the one that evolved needed someone wearing mime make-up in various locations. In the end, I decided to be the model myself as frankly it was more convenient. Plus, I am rarely in photos myself so this was a great way to get over my fear of that. Initially, I was inspired by incidents and commentary around the movie, “Barbie”. Also, I have always been inspired by Kim Thornton and how she puts herself front and center of her work.

The inception started when I was annoyed by a joke a comedian made about how Barbie was just a movie about a doll with big boobs. He had missed the point. It was about so much more and it made me realise, women often hide themselves to conform. That lead me to think about who else hides themselves…mime artists. They hide in plain sight. So I decided to do the same, hide in plain sight.

Four shots have been printed and framed for the exhibition as there are many more great artists involved. I have also made an accompanying zine to showcase the other photographs I created, which will be on sale at HiveArts.

Here is a selection of the images.

If you can’t make it to the exhibition and you live in the UK then you can visit the Zine’s Page to order a signed copy. These will be available until the copies that have been printed are sold out.

If you are not in the UK or want to save me a trip to the post office, you can order a copy through the ‘print on demand’ link below. Of course, these will not be signed 🙁 🙂
The link below can also be used if you want a digital version only.