The personal and raw insights of women who have experienced homelessness will be showcased in a mixed media exhibition at The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, University of South Australia.
What Women Hold, on display at the Kerry Packer Civic Gallery, will be presented in collaboration with The Art Bus and South Australian women’s homelessness service Catherine House, from 21 November 2024 to 31 January 2025.
Audiences are invited to engage with the powerful stories of women’s complex experiences of homelessness told through paintings, monoprints, collage, textile work and an interactive domestic installation. The pieces have been created by 20 women who have received support from Catherine House, alongside artists and exhibition curators Miranda Harris and Claire Harris from local mobile visual arts organisation The Art Bus.
Over the past 12 months, The Art Bus has delivered a weekly workshop at the Catherine House Women’s Centre. This program is funded through philanthropy and the State Government’s Adult Community Education program to create the collection of inspiring works. The Women’s Centre is also supported by the City of Adelaide and their Strategic Partnerships Grants Program.
Claire Harris, co-director of The Art Bus with her sister Miranda, says the pair work with workshop participants to build their skills and confidence.
“Our focus is on building trust and creating a safe space for people who are vulnerable. The Art Bus has a respected track record of providing long term programs for people of all ages including refugee groups, women in mental health facilities, older socially isolated people, people with disabilities and communities across Adelaide,” she says.
“During our workshops we decided we wanted to respond visually to the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence that is underway in SA. Over the past 10 months we have worked collaboratively to explore ideas around women’s safety and gendered violence. Discussions and reflections on what women hold, their experiences of homelessness and what it is to be safe, have been ongoing as we created work together.”
For more than 36 years, Catherine House has supported women who are recovering from homelessness and the impact of childhood trauma, domestic and family violence and mental health.
“A key focus of our service model is to create opportunities for women to have a diverse range of platforms from which to contribute their lived experience expertise, to community and political discourse on issues that adversely impact their lives and create barriers to moving forward,” says Deirdre Flynn, Manager Client Services, Catherine House.
One of the pieces on display in the What Women Hold exhibition is a large textile work that records the number of women who have died in Australia this year as a result of domestic and family violence.
The work, called Know My Name, is made with knitted coloured squares provided by women from the Adelaide Women’s Prison . Each square has been embroidered with the first name of a woman who has lost her life due to domestic family violence.
Miranda Harris, who is a UniSA visual arts alumnus, says creating the piece has been an emotional and challenging experience for some women.
“As we embroidered and stitched, we have talked and shared life experiences. Know My Name is an ongoing collaborative work that will be displayed in the exhibition with unfinished threads reflecting the enduring nature of this issue.”
What Women Hold is showing at The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre’s Kerry Packer Civic Gallery at UniSA, located on Level 3 of the Hawke Building, 55 North Terrace, City West Campus, from 21 November 2024 until 31 January 2025, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. Free entry. The gallery will be closed for the holiday break between 23 December and 1 January.
