About Erin’s Residency
The space is contaminated by a collection of dismembered female mannequin parts.
Objectification. Perfection. Ideal. Idol. The male gaze is protrusive.
During my Make a Start residency at LGI, I will work with collaborator Rachel Mackie to dive into the experience of objectification we face as female-identifying persons. The ideas to be explored in this project hold significant relevance in a time where women continue to fight for a voice and platform. In a society driven by consumerism and capitalism, and plagued by the persistent pledge of patriarchal ways, the conversation is surging.
To incite change, perception must be challenged. Turn all eyes to the women. Don’t just look, actually see them. Allow them to be more than a body, more than an image, more than an object.
The idealised projection of the female body is challenged and disfigured. Beauty will morph to the grotesque. Disrupting ‘perfection’ will expose the reality of our experience. What now? Where is our power?
– Erin O’Rourke
About Erin O’Rourke
Erin O’Rourke (she/her) is a Naarm/Melbourne-based contemporary dance practitioner and researcher. She spent 2021 undertaking Honours Research at the Victorian College of the Arts (University of Melbourne) finishing with First Class Honours. Erin’s recent research focused on the multiplicity of the dancer as they dismantle and challenge their moving identity in working with numerous artists. She is invested in giving the dancer a voice, privileging the dancer’s value in and of itself.
Erin has worked with artists around Melbourne including Jenni Large, Harrison Hall, and Jessi Lewis. Previous to relocating to Naarm in 2021, Erin completed her undergraduate studies at Queensland University of Technology in 2019, and has since engaged widely with the independent scene in Brisbane and surrounds, working on numerous projects within dance film, site specific and performance realms with artists including Claire Marshall, Liesel Zink, Jenni Large, Ashleigh Musk, Bella Hood, Prying Eye Productions, Melissa Lanham (LJ Projects), Courtney Scheu, Phluxus2 Dance Collective and Supercell: Festival of Contemporary Dance, as well as understudying for Australasian Dance Collective’s season of Aftermath.
erinorourke.com.au
@eriinorourke
About Rachel Mackie
Rachel Mackie is a dance artist based in Naarm/Melbourne. She graduated from the VCA in 2020 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance). Recent performance highlights include Lz Dunn’s Aeon for Dance Massive (2017), Chunky Move’s Accumulation for the NGV’s Triennial EXTRA (2018), and Stephanie Lake’s Colossus (Melbourne Fringe Festival 2018, Melbourne International Arts Festival 2019). Rachel was a member of youth dance company Yellow Wheel between 2016-2019, and toured with the Company to Mparntwe/Alice Springs in 2019. Rachel is currently interested in working with improvisational modes, and increasing her ability to observe and direct the thinking of her dancing body. Her practice is supported with investigations of other embodied and somatic practices.