Linda Dement

Linda Dement (born 1960 in Brisbane) is an Australian artist working in the fields of photography, film and digital arts as well as writing non-fiction.[1] She began exhibiting in 1984.[2] She graduated with a Bachelor Of Arts (Fine Arts) from City Art Institute, Sydney in 1988.[3] Dement is largely known for her exploration of the creative possibilities of emergent technologies such as the CD-ROM, 3-D modelling, interactive software and early computing.[4]

Dement's work has been exhibited in Australia and internationally in galleries and festivals, including at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London, Ars Electronica in Austria, the International Symposia of Electronic Art in Sydney and Montreal and the Impakt Media Arts Festival in Europe.[5]

Along with Australian artist collective VNS Matrix, Dement's work pioneered Australian cyberfeminism in art. Cyberfeminist politics and poetics used technology to deconstruct gender stereotypes in mainstream culture, and proactively situated women in relation to the rise of electronic culture in the early 1990s.[6] Through her work, Dement aims to "give form to the unbearable."[7] Dement's work has been described as depersonalised autobiography,[8] that is an appropriation of the digital as a space of expression, or a 'rupture' in the info-tech dominated sphere of computer culture.[9] Her work explores the relationship between the physical body and the body politic, exaggerating female 'other-ness' or the "monstrous-feminine.'[10]

Censorship

Some of Dements early works have come under censorship by the Australian Government. Typhoid Mary was taken to the NSW Parliament as being 'obscene' and subsequently came under the classification of the Australian Government's Office of Film and Literature as 'not suitable for those under the age of 18'. In My Gash also received a formal 'Restricted' classification.[11]

Works

To make this work Dement set up a stall as part of Artist Week at Adelaide Festival in 1994. She then digitally scanned 30 women's body parts of their choice. These scanned body parts were then digitally manipulated and reworked as 'mutant' bodies to make up the work. Many of the 'flesh donors' were prominent Australian cyberfeminist artists present at the Festival.[10]

Writing

Awards and Prizes

References

  1. Daniel Palmer, "Digital Art: A Rich Ecology"
  2. 2.0 2.1 'Linda Dement' by Vickie Crowley in Gerstner, David A., ed. Routledge international encyclopedia of queer culture. Routledge, 2006.
  3. Frost, Andrew. "Linda Dement Biography". Scanlines-Media Art in Australia Since 1960. Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  4. Zurbrugg (ed), Nicholas (Vol 8, No 1, 1994). ' Linda Dement Interviewed by Glenda Nalder', Electronic Arts in Australia. Murdoch, W.A: Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture. p. 166. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. Munster, Anna. Materializing new media: embodiment in information aesthetics. UPNE, 2011.
  6. Tofts, Darren (2005). Interzone: Media Arts in Australia. Victoria: Craftsman House. p. 118. ISBN 097573038X.
  7. Dement, Linda. "Linda Dement artist statement". http://www.videoartchive.org.au/''. Monash University. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  8. Willis & Halpin, Holly & Mikki (1996). "When the personal becomes digitial: Linda dement and Barbara hammer move towards a Lesbian cyberspace". Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory 9:1 (17): p. 235.
  9. Tofts, Darren (2005). Interzone : media arts in Australia. Fishermans Bend, Vic.: Craftsman House. p. 118. ISBN 097573038X.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Tofts, Darren (2005). Interzone : media arts in Australia. Fishermans Bend, Vic.: Craftsman House. p. 120. ISBN 097573038X.
  11. Tofts, Darren (2005). Interzone : media arts in Australia. Fishermans Bend, Vic.: Craftsman House. p. 121. ISBN 097573038X.
  12. Barrett, Di (2009). The ends of the earth : 13 October - 28 November 2009 (2 of 2 ed.). Adelaide: SASA Gallery. p. 6. ISBN 9780980591194. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  13. Frost, Andrew. "Linda Dement bio". Scanlines.

External links