Sally Smart presents part two of her trilogy exploring the avant-garde performances, costumes and set designs of the early twentieth century Ballets Russes. For this exhibition, titled P.A.R.A.D.E., Smart reimagines the spectacular dramatics, colour, texture, and design work of the famous dance troupe’s productions in an immersive staging of her own textiles, costumes, and drapery. The show includes sculpture and performance (video and sound), inspired by the costumes, and set designs made by Pablo Picasso for the ballet company’s parade in 1917.
Sally Smart, The Violet Ballet, 2019, installation view, ACE Open, Adelaide Festival. Photograph: S Roberts. © the artist. Courtesy the artist, Sarah Scout Presents, Melbourne and Geelong Gallery, Victoria
The act of cutting, splicing, pinning, layering and manipulating multiple fragments across spaces is central to Smart’s practice. Her use of fabric elements aligns to a long-standing interest in the domestic and feminine, and a desire to fracture or rupture societal expectations of gendered roles.
Geelong Gallery
19 March to 3 July 2022
Victoria
