Dawn Woolley

Manchester Metropolitan University : BA (Hons) – Fine Art Printmaking - 1st Class.

Website: http://donnaandclaire.com

For sales, commissions and to send comments to the artist click here

 

cooking.jpg
cooking

 

DIY.jpg
DIY

 

fixing-car.jpg
fixing-car

 

football.jpg
football

 

getting-ready.jpg
getting-ready

 

ironing.jpg
ironing

 

serving-dinner.jpg
serving-dinner

 

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shopping-trip

 

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watching-tv

 

Artist Statement : The Doll’s House

‘…Our home has been nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll wife, just as at home I was Papa’s doll child; and here the children have been my dolls...’
The Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen

This project is driven by my desire to satirise the gender specific nature of children’s toys and the stereotypes they reinforce. After visiting toyshops and observing the division of ‘girls toys’ (cookery sets and dolls) and ‘boys toys’ (tool belts and trains) I felt compelled to make a response.

My work serves to illustrate the function of gender in day-to-day life. I aim to examine the social construction of gender, as a form of learned behaviour that takes place during childhood. As they develop, children mimic their parents, forming ideas of socially acceptable gender roles for men and women. The act of playing becomes a gender performance, little girls pretend to look after the baby as little boys build spaceships and fix cars. Women are viewed as wives and mothers, and men are seen as providers.
This extends to wider society and the bi-polar gender assumptions that exist within it.

I will parody the notion of artifice and play by making ‘cut out’ self-portraits, which will be placed inside a doll’s house and photographed. This method of working imitates the layering process of my previous work, which was created using adobe Photoshop to digitally replicate myself. Rather than producing a flat photographic surface that suggests 3 dimensions, I have documented photographs within a 3 dimensional space.

Self-portraiture serves as a tool that I use to examine my own use of gender. The act of becoming the ‘active male subject’ and ‘passive female object’ in each piece subverts normative gender ideals and demonstrates my capacity to perform multiple gender roles. I hope to disrupt the idea of the ‘ideal male spectator’ and create a transgender viewing position in which each character is objectified and identified with equally.

List of Exhibitions :

20th Nov-22nd Nov 2003 281 @ Great Northern, Group Show Great Northern Building, Deansgate, Manchester
19th Nov-23rd Nov 2003 Show Home,Co-curated Group Show Apartment 618 (Urban Splash), Timber Wharf, Manchester
19th Sept 03-11th Jan 04 Long Live the Candy Floss Mavericks, Group Show Debenhams Windows (Comme Ca Art Ltd), Manchester
28th June-20th July 2003 Postcard Sale, Group show The Lowry, Manchester
26th Apr-7th June 2003 Because I’m Worth It, Solo Show Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery
10th Apr 2003-Mar 2004 Self Portrait UK, Group Show National Portrait Gallery, London National Gallery and Museum, Cardiff Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art Manchester Art Gallery Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast
10thApr-18th May 2003 The Dog and Partridge, Group Show Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Spring 2003 In-House No.2, An anthology of writing, art and ideas by Manchester-based artists And writers currently employed at the Cornerhouse, Manchester.
6th-12th Feb 2003 Priceless, Group Show 23 Withy Grove, Manchester
16th Nov-18th Dec 2002 Art Take Away, Group Show Cornerhouse Art Centre, Manchester
Summer 2002 In-House No.1, An anthology of writing, art and ideas by Manchester-based artists And writers currently employed at the Cornerhouse, Manchester.
24th Aug-13th Sept 2002 Because I’m Worth It, Solo show Open Artists Studios, Ancoats
24th June-26th Sept 2002 Family, Group show (8 artists) De Montford Hall, Leicester City Art Gallery, Leicester
April 2002-April 2003 Contact Touring Scheme, Solo Show Lancaster, Folly Gallery
2001-2002 Gender Bender, Global Artist’s Book Project xyzeeproductions
12th March-14th April 2002 2 Man Show Jamfish Bar, Altrincham
26th-29th July 2001 FreshArtFair2001, University stand Business Design Centre, Islington
15th-20th June 2001 The Mancunian Candidate, Degree show Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University

Dawn Woolley

Manchester Metropolitan University : BA (Hons) – Fine Art Printmaking - 1st Class.

Website: http://donnaandclaire.com

For sales, commissions and to send comments to the artist.

 

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