Feminist Fan Kate Just

For immediate release A.I.R.

June 30 - July 30, 2016

Opening Reception: June 30, 6-8pm

Brooklyn, NY - June 2016

Feminist Fan is a series of twenty hand-knitted replicas of self-portraits or artworks by feminist artists around the globe including Sarah Lucas, Pussy Riot, Guerrilla Girls, Cindy Sherman, Lynda Benglis, Juliana Huxtable, Mithu Sen, Tracey Mo att, Yoko Ono, Hannah Wilke and more.

The title Feminist Fan emphasizes Just's reverence to these artists and feminism, and each carefully stitched picture constitutes a time-intensive act of devotion. The accompanying book #feministfan features social media posts that were written and shared alongside every completed work, over two years.

Echoing Just’s use of knitting as an art medium, many of the selected works highlight the potential of textiles, clothing or adornment to expand representations of gender, sexuality and identity. As a collection, Feminist Fan forms an intimate family portrait of feminism and of Just’s own influences, in which threads of connection between artists across time periods and cultures emerge. Feminist Fan #4 (Lynda Benglis Art Forum Ad, 1974), 2014, 18x16 inches

Kate Just was born in Connecticut, USA in 1974, and migrated to Melbourne, Australia in 1996 where she currently lives and works. Just holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Sculpture) from Monash University, a Master of Arts from RMIT University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Painting) from the Victorian College of the Arts, where she has been a Lecturer in Art for the last ten years. Just has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across Australia including at Gertrude Contemporary, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Contemporary Art Space of Tasmania, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, and the National Gallery of Australia. Internationally, Just has exhibited her work at Titanik Galleria in Finland, Auckland Art Fair, AC Institute New York, the Factory at Kunsthalle Krems in Austria and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo, Japan. Just has been awarded international residencies in Barcelona, Tokyo, Krems and New Delhi. She was the winner of the 2007 Siemens Travel Award, the 2012 British Council Realise Your Dream Award, the 2013 Rupert Bunny Visual Arts Fellowship and the 2015 Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award.

For all press inquiries, please contact; Jamie Sterns, Director of Exhibitions. The gallery is wheelchair accessible.