No
1991
Medium
oil and synthetic polymer paint on galvanized iron
Measurements
(a-b) 126.6 × 302.0 × 10.2 cm (overall)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Margaret Stewart Endowment, 1991
© Annette Bezor
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
Annette Bezor attended art school in Adelaide during the mid 1970s, in the era of the women’s liberation movement. Bezor uses symbols of femininity, such as the flower, to subvert ideas of gender. In this work, she uses the word ‘No’ – a strong word of defiance and, in the context of women’s issues, a word with associations to a woman’s right to sexual agency over her body. Bezor camouflages this word of protest in a traditionally feminine aesthetic, associated with nature, fragility and beauty, by adorning the letters with a flower pattern in soft colours.