Design Institute of Australia “Women In Design” & Georgia MacGuire “Ill-fitted”

​ Ill-fitted presents a body of work that reflects upon the history of the assimilation of Australian Aboriginal women and their subjection to a western imposition of identity. This imposition involves a process where the subject’s sense of self is manipulated by a dominant cultural ‘gaze’. In the exhibition, a connection is drawn between human flesh and the bark of the Melaleuca tree. More commonly known as paper bark, this natural substrate could be perceived as a bodily manifestation of an individual; however it also references a cultural connection to country. Within the work, paper ‘flesh’ is rearticulated into forms that have been used to restrict female Indigenous identity: for example, the construct of the dress. Georgia MacGuire is the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2013 winner for both three dimensional works and Arts Victoria People’s Choice Award. Georgia MacGuire is the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards 2013 winner for both three dimensional works and Arts Victoria People’s Choice Award. Part of Indigenous Arts Festival 2014. Supported by the City of Melbourne Women In Design celebrates the contribution Melbourne women make to our built environment. Presented by the Design Institute of Australia Victoria Tasmania Branch, the exhibition profiles creative leaders from the disciplines of Architecture, Furniture Design, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, Visual Art, Textile Design and Inter-disciplinary Design. The fifteen contributing designers – Celina Clarke, Debbie Ryan, Helen Kontouris, Helen Watts, Jenny Underwood, Kerstin Thompson, Kirsten Bauer, Leah Heiss, Leanne Zilka, Michaela Webb, Penelope Lee, Simone LeAmon, Sue Carr and Susan Hewitt – will delve into their catalogue of work to feature projects which tell the story of their careers.