Julie Rrap
Puberty 1984 (from Persona and Shadow)

Literature:

Julie Rrap: Body Double, Victoria Lynn, p 13-17
Know My Name, Natasha Bullock, Kelli Cole, Deborah Hart, Elspeth Pitt, p. 322-323

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:

In 1983, two decades after the beginning of second-wave feminism, Rrap attended an exhibition in Berlin that sought to define the zeitgeist of the time. The exhibition featured the work of approximately 40 male artists and 1 female artist. In response, Rrap created Persona and Shadow, a collection of fragmented depictions of her body, of which Puberty is one. The collection involved Rrap dismantling and reassembling photographs of her naked body in the style of works by Edvard Munch in order to examine and challenge the stereotypical depiction of women’s bodies in art. The collection in its entirety was exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia’s ground breaking 2020 exhibition Know My Name: Australian Women Artists 1900 to Now, Part One.