This September ALASKA Projects presents seven vibrant artists who engage with the complexities of identity and sexuality in ‘Engender’. At a time when LGBT rights have become a focus in Australian politics, this show represents a new generation of artists, and young citizens, rallying against prescriptive ideas of what it means to be ourselves. The curatorial direction of the exhibition, led by Grace Partridge with assistance from Emma Size, includes dialogue on this topic of personal truths from feminist, queer, trans and anti-racist perspectives, so as to offer a resounding and powerful message of inclusivity.

Angelica Mesiti, Nakh Removed, 2015, still from the single channel video, silent, 9 mins 6 secs
Featured artists include: Tony Albert, Angelica Mesiti, Liam Benson, Get To Work, Echo Morgan, Angela Yu and Archie Barry. Together, their unique artistic and political voices offer an interesting take on the exhibition brief that hopes to “explore the ways in which we move through the world as gendered bodies” with the aim to “expand the rigidity around how we view what is male and what is female.”

Tony Albert, Brother (Our Present), 2013, pigment print on paper, edition of 3 + 2APs, 150 x 100cm
Tony Albert’s work Brother (Our Present) (2013) represents a growing discussion surrounding racial and gendered identity. Over ten years Albert has worked through numerous mediums, exploring the visibility of Aboriginal people in Australia. Together with other artists such as Echo Morgan, who explores the impact her Chinese identity has on her gendered identity, the pair examine this sensitive topic from an ‘outsiders perspective’. Having moved from Chengdu, China, to the UK, Morgan uses a passage of translation between gesture, body and voice that shifts from Chinese to English and back again, to explore her role as a bilingual and multifaceted woman.

Echo Morgan, Be the Inside of the Vase, 2012, still from film. Photograph: Jamie Baker
By exploring unique avenues for self-expression the artists and gallery champion the human spirit, in all its beauty and difference.
ALASKA Projects
15 to 30 September, 2017
Sydney