The Armour of Hope and other works

Abstract

The series of work entitled The Skin of Hope was produced during a 2012 Australia Council for the Arts studio residency in Barcelona, where I was accompanied by my partner Paula and our adopted daughter, Hope. Blurring the usual divide between familial life and art practice, the residency inspired a series of hand knitted sculptures and photographs weaving an account of the ways that Hope and I acknowledge, bond and imprint each other at skin level. Materialising our past wounds and present, tactile connections, the works include a hanging, child-sized, knitted suit of armour for Hope and a reversible pair of knitted arm-length gloves for me, scar-embroidered with surgical stitches and the words HOPE and MOTHER. Through the slow crafting of the works, and the photographs of us wearing the garments, I reflected on Hope's and my own resilience, repair and capacity to love. In a photographic work featuring Hope's text and drawing of herself on my naked back, I further framed skin as both a receptive and transmissive space, bearing witness to our most intimate moments.

How to Cite

Just, K., (2013) “The Armour of Hope and other works”, Studies in the Maternal 5(1), 1. doi: https://doi.org/10.16995/sim.155

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Just has exhibited her work extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia including at Craft Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Gertrude Contemporary, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Art Fair, Silvershot, Contemporary Art Space Tasmania, Conical, First Draft, MOP, West Space, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Canberra Contemporary Art Space and Daine Singer. Internationally, Just has exhibited her work at Nanjing University, Auckland Art Fair, AC Institute New York, and the Factory at Kunsthalle Krems, Austria. In 2012, a survey exhibition of Just's major knitted works was held at Ararat Regional Gallery entitled Kate Just: The Knitted Work (2004-2011).

Just has also been the recipient of numerous grants and prizes. She was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award and a Monash Graduate Research Scholarship and has received three project grants from the City of Melbourne, a Creation Grant from Arts Victoria and a New Work (Midcareer) grant from the Australia Council for Arts. Just was the winner of the 2007 Siemens Travel Award, and the 2012 British Council Realise Your Dream Award. She has undertaken local residencies at Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Lake Macquarie Gallery, Heide Museum of Modern Art and the Australian Tapestry Workshop and international residencies at Krems (AIR) and the Australia Council Studio Barcelona.

Just will travel to London in 2013 to create public art and knitting project with artists and members of the Stitch London community. Just's work is held in numerous collections including Artbank, Ergas Collection, City of Port Phillip, Ararat Regional Art Gallery and Proclaim Management Collection. Kate Just is represented in Australia by Daine Singer.

www.katejust.com

www.dainesinger.com/kate-just

Kate Just, 'The Armour of Hope'

Kate Just The Armour of Hope 2012 Digital Type-C Print 61 x 45 cm Courtesy the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne, Australia

Kate Just, 'The Armour of Hope', detail

Kate Just The Armour of Hope 2012 Foreground: Hand knitted metal and silk 104 x 45 x 4 cm Background: Digital Type-C Print 61 x 45 cm Installation Photograph: John Brash Courtesy the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne, Australia

Kate Just 'The Arms of the Mother'

Kate Just The Arms of Mother 2012 Digital Type-C Print 34.5 x 40 cm Courtesy the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne, Australia

Kate Just 'The Arms of Hope'

Kate Just The Arms of Hope 2012 Digital Type-C Print 34.5 x 40 cm Courtesy the artist and Daine Singer, Melbourne, Australia

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