A visual exploration of character as narration, forbidden Australian identity and the complex underbelly of our cultural zeitgeist.
‘Judy’ catches elements of Victoria Todorov’s image and media based practice spanning painting, sculpture and video and merges those within the foundations of VERNER’s interest in revising Australian domesticity, politics, trauma and heritage. The artist and designer both delve into pop cultural excavations to explore notorious female iconography, the gangstress, the publishing legend, the radical feminist, the entertainer and the cult leader.
The collection’s seesaw tension reveals and recontextualizes artefacts and motifs of persona within the paradigm of the visual arts and fashion. The magnification of newspapers and print media speak to the nostalgic values of the past and the miscellaneous household and personal objects reference the Australian family unit and home life. Running Motifs within Todorov’s practice are utilised by VERNER in the form of illusory print and construction. The unification of separate elements both being of thematic concern for Designer and Artist has resulted in the friends working to assemble and rework the familiar generating synthesis.
Formal attire is reinterpreted with a deflated approach. Notions of glamour and the stiffness of special occasion wear are diluted as lazy dressing.
