Publication

Justene Williams
The Curtain Breathed Deeply

Format: Hardback
Publishers: Artspace and the Monash University Museum
Production Editors: Caraline Douglas and Mark Feary
Commissioning Editors: Charlotte Day and Alexie Glass-Kantor
Copyright Clearance: Francis E. Parker
Copy Editor: Claire Armstrong
Design: HAYMAN
Printer: Everbest Printing Co Ltd
ISBN: 9781920781552

In The Curtain Breathed Deeply, Justene Williams melds references from art history – Picasso, Leger and Kahlo – with a range of everyday pop cultural influences including hip hop music, Milli Vanilli and A Chorus Line. In a series of choreographed performative videos the artist blends together references drawing on rituals of Shamanism, Voodooism and Modernist primitivism. Williams amasses together a collection of visual and aural curiosities through a wealth of patterns, colours, textures and tonalities, many of which draw from the artist’s own childhood. Calling upon memories of her father’s wrecking yard, her childhood training in dance, and her experiences constructing elaborate retail window displays, Williams uses found objects and waste materials to create dazzling theatrical environments.  

The publication features contributions from Erin Branagan, Pamela Hansford, Lally Katz and Anne Loxley.

This publication has been generously supported by Catalyst: Katherine Hannay Visual Arts Commission.