Normal Work
Curated by Renate Lorenz
Hannah Cullwick & Pauline Boudry

May 1 - 31, 2008
Reception: Saturday May 10, 2 - 5 PM


IMAGE: Hannah Cullwick, Carte by J. Stodard of Margate, digital reproduction, 1864

From 1855 to 1902, Hannah Cullwicks photographed self-portraits where she was engaged in domestic labour. Cleaning floors, blistered hands and shining shoes are the focus. Cullwicks fascination with domestic labour and servitude was directly connected to her sexuality. In her letters and self portraits she clearly promotes her desire and love of a submissive role, which in contemporary language translates to BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sado//Masochism. In her images, Cullwicks dons a leather bracelet to indicate her sexual position as well as a lock and chain around her neck to which only her “master” has the key. Renate Lorenz discovered this series of self portraits at an archive in the UK, which she shared with Swiss video artist Pauline Boudry. Boudry used the Victorian imagery to inspire Berlin-based drag performer, Werner Hirsch to perform the actions, costumes and poses of Cullwicks photographs with seminal queer photographer Del La Grace Volcano’s series Daddy Boy Dykes in the background. There is profound dialogue between the subjects and the use of technology. Normal Work negates an overly simplistic view of sexuality and labour that challenges audience members to scratch the surface of familiarity, the role of portraiture in archiving identity and photography’s growth into new technologies.

EXHIBITION BROCHURE AND ESSAY BY STEPHANIE ROGERSON

Gallery 44 gratefully acknowledges the cooperation of the Goethe-Institut Toronto and the generous support of Inside Out Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival.

Normal Work is presented in conjunction with: