Vivienne Binns’ video work Self-portrait Self-image (1980) is featured in the group exhibition ‘Staging Oneself: Photography and New Media Self-Portraits by Women Artists’ currently on show at Cairns Art Gallery.
Staging Oneself examines the creative ways in which contemporary women artists use role play, disguise, and self-portraiture to explore womanhood and female identity within the public and private spheres. Using photography and new media, these self-portraits reveal a complex interpretation and understanding of identity informed by real and imagined experiences.
Vivienne Binns’ video work Self-portrait Self-image (1980) consists of an interview and a two-channel slideshow – one depicting the life of her mother Joyce, and the other revealing events from corresponding years in the artist’s life. The artist’s work seeks to give value to hitherto ignored, and subverted aspects of women’s lives, questioning notions of self-identity, along with the colliding public and private worlds inhabited.
Staging Oneself: Photography and New Media Self-Portraits by Women Artists
Cairns Art Gallery
24 February – 19 May 2024