Honorable Mention
virtues
DESCRIPTION
Inspired by Barbara Welter's (1966) theory of 'True Womanhood', which identifies that during the mid-nineteenth century, restrictive societal gender roles were insidiously communicated in literature, magazines and places of worship. Using exaggerated styling and a composition inspired by Victorian studio portraiture, 'virtues' playfully mocks the idea of heteronormative gender role, suggesting that little has changed for women and AFAB people in terms of the ways in which the 'idealised' version of our gender identity is communicated to us. AUTHOR
Amy Iona is a lens-based artist and researcher. She graduated from Edinburgh College of Art with a First Class Honours in 2020 and was awarded the inaugural Baillie Gifford Creativity, Inclusitivity award to support a year of research at the University of Glasgow. Alongside her art practice, she is dedicated to creating access and inclusion within the Scottish creative economy through critical engagement with galleries and other curatorial organisations. Amy's work is driven by interconnected themes of folklore, esoterics, utopianism, gender politics and queer feminist philosophy. She is particularly interested in how relationships between people and nature are impacted by social and cultural identity, explored through documentation real, imagined and digital environments.
