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Tuesday 19 March 2024
Open 9:00am - 5:00pm

Semiotics of the Bathroom

Sonia Ward’s video work Semiotics of the Bathroom subverts and contemporises Martha Rosler’s seminal Semiotics of the Kitchen with an iPhone selfie-style performance. The work is influenced by performance art, performance-like behaviour on social media platforms, and the COVID-19 situation that sees performances happening online and at home. The piece reflects on the role of the mask in a time when masks are considered protective, and questions if masks (and masked performances) protect, reveal or create identities in the viewer’s mind of the performer.

The artwork was projected as an installation in Umbrella’s downstairs Vault space from 14 August – 27 September 2020.

Commissioned through Creative Sparks, this project received generous support from the Regional Arts Development Fund. RADF is a partnership between the Queensland Government and the Townsville City Council to support local arts and culture in regional Queensland.

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(07) 4772 7109

408 Flinders Street,
Gurambilbarra (Townsville),
Qld, 4810 Australia

PO Box 2394,
Gurambilbarra (Townsville),
Qld, 4810 Australia

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Acknowledgement of Country

Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts respectfully acknowledges the Wulgurukaba of Gurambilbarra and Yunbenun and the surrounding groups of our region; Bindal, Gugu Badhan, Nywaigi, Warrgamay, Bandjin and Gudjal as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we gather, share and celebrate local creative practice. We pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first people of Australia. They have never ceded sovereignty and remain strong in their enduring connection to land and Culture.

Umbrella is a Dealer Member of the Indigenous Art Code. This means we are committed to fair and ethical trade with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, and transparency in the promotion and sale of artwork. As a Dealer Member and signatory to the Code we must act fairly, honestly, professionally and in good conscience in all direct or indirect dealings with artists.

Acknowledgements

Umbrella is supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, part of the Department of Communities, Housing and Digital Economy, and by the Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, state and territory governments. | Umbrella is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funds through the Australian Cultural Fund. | Townsville City Council is a funding partner of Umbrella's program.