LEVEL 3, GALLERY 27
AUSTRALIA, BORN 1971
LIVES AND WORKS IN MELBOURNE
PROJECT
Steven Rhall’s immersive installation Air dancer as black body 2019 is made up of a nylon inflatable air dancer, sensor activated fan, and spotlight. Audiences approach a darkened room and, upon triggering the sensor, activate a spotlight and fan, which inflates the air dancer with a loud and violent burst of action. Drawing attention to the history of violence against black bodies, the work is a commentary on how non-white bodies appear in Eurocentric frameworks of art and culture. In addition, the work explores the human conditions of loneliness and isolation, which feel more relevant than ever in 2020.
ABOUT
Taungurong artist Steven Rhall describes himself as a postconceptual artist operating from a First Nation, white-passing, cis-male positionality. His interdisciplinary practice responds to the intersectionality of First Nation art practice and the Western art canon. Rhall is interested in interrogating modes of representation, classification and hierarchy through formats including installation, performance, sculpture, curatorial practice and public/private interventions. He exhibits internationally, lectures at the Victorian College of the Arts and is a PhD candidate at Monash University on Birrarung-ga land (Melbourne, Australia).