Root Dress

source: wagca

Root Dress is part meditation on the motif of the dress and part landscape. In her artistic practice, Barb Hunt investigates cultural preconceptions and how notions of gender are constructed. In particular, she attempts to reveal and recuperate the “feminine,” which historically has been discredited as minor or irrelevant by male-dominated culture. Clothing is strongly associated with the masculine or the feminine in society. The hard, durable steel of this work and its anchored form confound associations of dresses with soft cloth and fluidity, which in turn questions assumptions based on gender. Using images from nature and forms historically connected with femininity, Hunt weaves both contradictions and correlations between material, image, and process to unearth diverse visions of identity.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
source: barbhunt

Barb Hunt received a visual art diploma from the University of Manitoba and completed an MFA at Concordia University, Montreal. Her recent art practice has focussed on the rituals of mourning, particularly those of Newfoundland, and her current work is about the devastation of war: knitting antipersonnel land mines in pink wool, and creating works from camouflage army uniforms. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally. She has also been awarded residencies in Canada, Paris and Ireland. She has been the recipient of Canada Council grants, as well as the President’s Award for Outstanding Research from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she teaches in the Visual Arts Program, Grenfell Campus.