Mind-Field

Kathrin Longhurst's latest exhibition uses the symbolic language of propaganda art – figures and powerful subversive text – to highlight the minefield of social issues and disadvantage that challenge contemporary women daily. Her work examines the role that ingrained gender stereotypes play on our perception of feminine vs masculine, and the way we value female experiences.

*News Update* Congratulations to Kathrin Longhurst on the announcement of her painting 'Irrational' (above) as a finalist in this year's Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW.

Watch: Kathrin Longhurst discussing her new exhibitionCATALOGUE ESSAYby Kate McAuley 2022 Spending time with Kathrin Longhurst, either in person or through her art, is to enter a world that both exalts and challenges what it means to be a woman. Regardless of the prism through which she views her subjects, this is the common thread Longhurst has woven throughout her acclaimed body of work - from her earlier pieces, where she championed feminine power by subverting the ultra-macho propaganda posters that dominated the visual landscape of her East Berlin childhood and adolescence, to Mind-Field, her latest offering here, which examines how gendered language, labels and stereotypes, create a complex and often hazardous environment for women. 

In her seminal work, Rage Becomes Her, the author and activist Soraya Chemaly asserts that the language we use to describe men and women has an enormous impact on how we perceive both ourselves and each other, particularly when it comes to self-worth and agency. Chemaly also concludes that these words, more often than not, subjugate women while perpetuating male dominance and authority. With Mind-Field, a play on the word minefield, Longhurst interrogates this statement by placing her female subjects against the backdrop of emotionally charged words. In the work entitled Sweet, for example, a woman stares out of the canvas with an expression that is anything but saccharine, while for Boss her subject appears both hopeful and naive rather than assertive and bold. 

By revisiting the use of text in her paintings and the addition of bold geometric backgrounds inspired by the somewhat controversial American artist Frank Shepard Fairey, Longhurst once again raises her female subjects into strong and dominant entities, pushing them to the forefront of the canvas. Unlike traditional figurative paintings, which render women diminutive, chaste and in need of protection, these works exude strength as well as vulnerability, forcing the viewer to consider the complex relationship between labels and identity. Longhurst’s subjects each have a different response to the designation that’s been ascribed to them. Some are defiant, while others question the validity of the assertion. Some exhibit sadness, anguish or disbelief, while others claim ownership or are resigned to their assigned role. As a result, Mind-Field is a masterful interpretation of the gender bias in language. 

As an artist, Longhurst continues to be a relentless advocate for the feminist cause - and there is no better time to be working in this sphere than now. Thanks to the ground swell of the global #metoo movement and advocates and sexual assault survivors such as Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, the discourse surrounding the rights of women and girls has been plucked from the margins and once again entered into Australian mainstream conversation. In the past, commentators have indicated to Longhurst that her art is too obvious; a suggestion that has only resigned the artist to amplify her message further. Change does not come about a result of subtlety and suggestion. The Patriarchy is under threat and with Mind-Field Longhurst is adding her powerful voice to the revolution.

ARTIST STATEMENT: The title of this exhibition is a play on ‘minefield’ and how unhealthy gender stereotypes and sexism are a product of the mind, hereby creating a minefield for women. I want to examine the role ingrained gender stereotypes play on our perception of feminine vs masculine and the way we value female behaviour/personality traits/occupations/physical attributes and how language shapes these attitudes.

The language we use affects the way we relate to women and how we behave as women. It affects the way we value or undervalue typically female professions such as nursing or teaching vs the trades. It affects the way we hold women in power to higher standards than men. It leads to huge financial disadvantages for women, inequality in business/workplaces, gendered violence and more.

I wanted to use the symbolic language of propaganda art to mix figures and text in a manner that sets up contradictions. Depicting a contemplative/feminine figure with words like: Boss / Warrior / Alpha / Macho or have a strong aggressive pose, overlaid with words like: Nurture / Tender / Sweet / Soft and also words that are designed to subjugate and put women down: she is Bubbly / Shrill / Hysterical / Emotional / Sensitive / Dramatic / Difficult.

I’ve been told by some that they find such strong works too obvious, but I feel subtle doesn’t necessarily work and I’m tired of apologising that my work makes people uncomfortable.

ARTIST PROFILE:Kathrin Longhurst's high-realist, figurative painting practice intentionally transforms difficult encounters of oppression and adversity into powerful and positive messages of hope and change. Having grown up in former communist East Germany, Longhurst's family escaped to Sweden when she was 15. The experience of this displacement, compounded by the jarring contrast between living within a totalitarian regime and that of a Western capitalist democracy was the spark that ignited Longhurst's enduring commitment to issues of social justice and freedom of speech.Travelling extensively throughout Europe and Asia before finally settling in Australia, Longhurst possesses a understanding of human rights issues, the role of women and girls in society as well as a keen awareness of the seductive power of advertising and the media.  Her skilfully rendered images of women in states of defiant self awareness layer themes of sexuality, propaganda and body image stereotypes to deconstruct and reassess the mechanisms at play within a given society. ‘Propaganda is all around us.  It’s not specific to a period of time, a country or a regime…it’s everywhere’. This ingrained knowledge of political conditioning overtly operates within much of Longhurst's visual language and is the driving force behind her passion to use art to question, challenge and reinvent the ethics and values of today's contemporary culture.Her work has been included in a number of international exhibitions in Europe and the USA and she has held 20 successful solo exhibitions in Melbourne, Sydney and Queensland. She has been a finalist in numerous awards including the prestigious Archibald Prize (2021, 2018), the Darling Prize at the National Portrait Gallery Canberra (2020), the Portia Geach Award (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2013, 2012, 2011), the Doug Moran Portrait Prize (2017), the Sulman Prize (2012), the Mosman Art Prize (2016), the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Prize (2008), the Korea Australia Arts Foundation Prize (2013, 2017) and the WA Black Swan Prize (2008, 2009). 

She was the winner of the 2021 Packing Room Prize for the Archibald Prize, winner of the 2020 Northern Beaches Art Prize and winner of the 2017 Portia Geach People’s Choice Award. She has formally served as Vice President for the Portrait Artists Australia and was the Foundering Director of Project 504, a co-operative art space in Sydney. Her work is collected widely in Australia and internationally and is represented in the Bennett Collection of Women Realists, USA