Chrissy Button draws upon her Polish heritage in these recent works inspired by folklore and the feminine.
Baba Yaga is a monstrous old woman – a witch, who commands her transfigured herd of forty-one daughter-horses to foil the hero-prince. Unsuccessful, she beats them and accuses them of disloyalty and self-interest. Button responds to the fairy tale’s patriarchal symbolism that serves to monsterise the matriarch. Her sculpture and collages feature the red thread that not only deflects the evil eye, but also acts as a bind for repair, control and manipulation.
Chrissy Button, Daughter-horse I, from ‘Baba Yaga’s herd of mares’, 2023–25, found toy horse, collage, fabric, thread and acrylic. Courtesy the artist and Art Gallery of Ballarat, Victoria
Art Gallery of Ballarat at 43 Mair Street
5 July to 17 August 2025
Victoria
