Limber 4, 2021, mixed media (EPE foam & fibre fill, hand stitched lycra, steel hanging armature by Neil Aldum, artificial
human eyes)
Limber 7, 2022, mixed media (EPE foam & fibre fill, hand stitched lycra, PVC armature, ceramic titled plinth, artificial human eyes)
Gallery Portraits of Tarryn Gill by Mark Mohell, National Portrait Gallery, Australia
Installation Views by Liv Cameron, National Portrait Gallery, Australia
human eyes)
Limber 7, 2022, mixed media (EPE foam & fibre fill, hand stitched lycra, PVC armature, ceramic titled plinth, artificial human eyes)
Gallery Portraits of Tarryn Gill by Mark Mohell, National Portrait Gallery, Australia
Installation Views by Liv Cameron, National Portrait Gallery, Australia
Limber 7 was commisssioned for Portrait23: Identity by the
National Portrait Gallery.
Tarryn Gill creates work that explores psychoanalytic ideas, bridging the conscious and unconscious. Limber extends a series of works that combine theatrical aesthetic materials and a process of making
that reckons with the artist’s personal history in competitive dance and calisthenics.
“This series of body works emerged from an encounter with nature: it was a moment in the midst of a forest when I felt powerless and filled with rage at the patriarchy. I felt uplifted by these trees an had an experience of awe encountering their feminine power. These abstracted, multi-limbed self portraits are about my personal transformation, growing in the egoless way trees do. They attempt
to express how I feel in my hypermobile body and are less about self image or likeness.
Limber 4 and 7 were made using carved foam covered with stretched, pinned and hand-stitched metallic dance Lycra. They have this Frankenstein’s monster quality, but they’re very soft and
feminine. I also put eyes in the vulnerable places on the sculptures. I’ve been hypersexualised in the past, particularly as a young female performer. Putting these eyes in areas like the crotch or hands where they can look back is empowering me by empowering these figures.”
National Portrait Gallery.
Tarryn Gill creates work that explores psychoanalytic ideas, bridging the conscious and unconscious. Limber extends a series of works that combine theatrical aesthetic materials and a process of making
that reckons with the artist’s personal history in competitive dance and calisthenics.
“This series of body works emerged from an encounter with nature: it was a moment in the midst of a forest when I felt powerless and filled with rage at the patriarchy. I felt uplifted by these trees an had an experience of awe encountering their feminine power. These abstracted, multi-limbed self portraits are about my personal transformation, growing in the egoless way trees do. They attempt
to express how I feel in my hypermobile body and are less about self image or likeness.
Limber 4 and 7 were made using carved foam covered with stretched, pinned and hand-stitched metallic dance Lycra. They have this Frankenstein’s monster quality, but they’re very soft and
feminine. I also put eyes in the vulnerable places on the sculptures. I’ve been hypersexualised in the past, particularly as a young female performer. Putting these eyes in areas like the crotch or hands where they can look back is empowering me by empowering these figures.”
