Julie Rrap
Overstepping 2001

Literature:

Julie Rrap: Body Double, Victoria Lynn, p. 96-97, illus. front cover

Biography:

Julie Rrap is a contemporary Australian artist who uses her body as a medium through which to deconstruct and challenge the representation of women in western art history. Her art, as well as the reversal of her last name, expresses her opposition to the prevailing norms of the late twentieth century that dictated how a woman ought represent herself and be represented in art. Rrap’s extensive career began in the mid 1970s with her work Disclosures and continues to this day. Her artwork, inspired by the intense sexual and gender politics of the late twentieth century, has also contributed to the foundations of contemporary feminist art in Australia. Julie Rrap is represented by Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney and Arc One Gallery, Melbourne.

Notes:

Overstepping is one of Julie Rrap’s most iconic and well-known works, comprising an image in which her feet have sprouted small stiletto-like heels. The work is undoubtedly a commentary on the increasingly unrealistic beauty standards expected of women, which has only increased since the work’s creation in 2001 with the rise of social media, Photoshop and the increasing accessibility of cosmetic surgery. The distortion of the female body seen in her work Puberty is far more pronounced in this image. It is no longer the organisation of the images that creates distorted and mismatched lines, but the body parts themselves that are misshapen and unfamiliar. The depiction of this figure by a female artist serves to reclaim the female body in art and challenge the way the viewer examines it.