A Closed Fist is an exhibition by emerging artist Andy Mullens, looking at the feelings of frustration and futility she experiences when observing contemporary attitudes in society, media and politics. The news, “fake news”, trending hashtags, protests, deaths, petitions, elections, the fear and the hate have been overwhelming.
A Closed Fist is an exhibition by emerging artist Andy Mullens, looking at the feelings of frustration and futility she experiences when observing contemporary attitudes in society, media and politics. The news, “fake news”, trending hashtags, protests, deaths, petitions, elections, the fear and the hate have been overwhelming.
Interested in the phenomenon of echo chambers and social media algorithms that only serve to reinforce one’s beliefs, Mullens questions these modes of communication. She examines our need to publicise our views in comparison to the change it inspires. Her observations and frustrations have become a deep-felt sense of weariness. Sentiments she renders into sculptures and installations using symbolism borrowed from classic-Australiana, protest culture and modern-day media. Reappropriating the tools of protest, Mullens uses slogan t-shirts, flags, and bullet-proof vests to highlight what might really be the intent behind these attitudes.
BIO
Andy Mullens is an emerging multidisciplinary artist based in Canberra, Australia. Her practice is based on identity politics, exploring culture, language, and gender. Born to a refugee mother, Mullens is concerned with understanding and examining authenticity, dislocation, connection, and asserting ownership of culture. She draws from her heritage as a Vietnamese-Australian to investigate these themes, observing the way our relationship to culture shifts over time. Working across photography, sculpture, installation and video Mullens focuses on the experience of singular and collective identity and the intersection of the personal and political.
Mullens was the winner of the 2016 Yen Female Art Awards (NSW), as well as a finalist in the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery National Works on Paper Awards (VIC). She has been in several group exhibitions including Anthropocene curated by Grace Partridge of Antidote (NSW), and Future Archaeology curated by Toby Chapman at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (NSW). In 2016 Mullens was the In Focus resident at PhotoAccess (ACT), and exhibited her second solo show Mother Tongue. A Closed Fist is her third solo exhibition, held at Gaffa (NSW) in 2017.
A Closed Fist is an exhibition by emerging artist Andy Mullens, looking at the feelings of frustration and futility she experiences when observing contemporary attitudes in society, media and politics. The news, “fake news”, trending hashtags, protests, deaths, petitions, elections, the fear and the hate have been overwhelming.
Interested in the phenomenon of echo chambers and social media algorithms that only serve to reinforce one’s beliefs, Mullens questions these modes of communication. She examines our need to publicise our views in comparison to the change it inspires. Her observations and frustrations have become a deep-felt sense of weariness. Sentiments she renders into sculptures and installations using symbolism borrowed from classic-Australiana, protest culture and modern-day media. Reappropriating the tools of protest, Mullens uses slogan t-shirts, flags, and bullet-proof vests to highlight what might really be the intent behind these attitudes.
BIO
Andy Mullens is an emerging multidisciplinary artist based in Canberra, Australia. Her practice is based on identity politics, exploring culture, language, and gender. Born to a refugee mother, Mullens is concerned with understanding and examining authenticity, dislocation, connection, and asserting ownership of culture. She draws from her heritage as a Vietnamese-Australian to investigate these themes, observing the way our relationship to culture shifts over time. Working across photography, sculpture, installation and video Mullens focuses on the experience of singular and collective identity and the intersection of the personal and political.
Mullens was the winner of the 2016 Yen Female Art Awards (NSW), as well as a finalist in the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery National Works on Paper Awards (VIC). She has been in several group exhibitions including Anthropocene curated by Grace Partridge of Antidote (NSW), and Future Archaeology curated by Toby Chapman at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (NSW). In 2016 Mullens was the In Focus resident at PhotoAccess (ACT), and exhibited her second solo show Mother Tongue. A Closed Fist is her third solo exhibition, held at Gaffa (NSW) in 2017.
