*UPDATE 2**
Privat: the natural body as fiction is back! We’re reopening The Mill on the 3oth of July for visitors. You will need to book prior to visiting us so we can keep numbers to a minimum and to ensure that you have a calm and safe visit at The Mill. In order to book your visit please follow the link and choose your preferred time:
Re-opening dates and times
Opening: Thursday 30th July 2020
Closing: Saturday 8th August 2020
Tuesday, Thursdays and Fridays, 5pm – 7 pm (30 minute slot, make multiple bookings for more time)
Saturdays, 10 am – Noon (1 hour slots)
Tickets: Book your tickets here!
Max people per visit 6 people. We are also offering the facility to book The Mill for a private viewing of the exhibition against a donation of your choice. Donations go towards supporting our artistic programming.
Venue: The Mill – Art, Culture and Crafts Centre, Birkirkara
Health and Safety updates at The Mill
**UPDATE**
March 13th UPDATE – Dear all, we have decided to postpone the exhibition for the time being. It’s been a difficult decision to make, but an obvious one. We will keep you updated with dates and times. In the meantime we will be sharing some content for those of you who didn’t manage to visit. Should anyone wish to support Charlene Gálea and her work, kindly contact us via email shop(at)gabrielcaruanafoundation.org.
Artist note: We are living in a digital era where female flesh is more visible than ever. The online world of apps has given the opportunity for any woman to expose herself. It is not about celebrity culture anymore as anyone can become a star for a short moment. But does this mean that we are becoming more seen but less heard than ever before? Have we just become speechless bodies stuck inside an Instagram grid? Throughout 2019 I have disguised myself online in various Sexy personalities. My aim has not been to showcase my body but to address what being ‘Female’ is in a globalised digital world such as Instagram.
Images of sex appeal are present more than ever, whether it is someone drinking a smoothie or someone walking the dog or someone doing yoga there are constant sexy poses. We believe that we are liberated just because of our recognition in society and equal rights as women have moved forward and that sexual freedom in images are a sign for celebrating empowerment. Reality is that we have become more repressed, constantly thinking about our self-image, to modify, to clone, to appear as a decoration in the online world.
The meaning of being sexy has lost its aura, if ten years ago it was about going to work or meeting with friends or for a date with a partner and one was celebrating looking sexy as a special occasion, these days we are obsessed caught up in an image covered by filters and body modifying apps which very often completely alter the real us into a celebrity or influencer clone.
Who are we when no one is looking? Are we becoming more than ever alienated from our own sex? Sex appeal has become solely image-based, a curated version for the sake of Instagram, commodifying our bodies into separate body parts and encouraging capitalism to boom more rapidly.
Charlene Galea’s exhibition ‘Privat: The natural body as fiction’ is supported by the Gabriel Caruana Foundation, forming part of its 2020 artistic programme and SPRING the Foundation’s yearly initiative supporting emerging artists.
This exhibition also forms part of Art+Feminism in collaboration with Spazju Kreattiv.
Dates and Times
Opening: Sunday 8 March, 7pm – 9pm
Closing: Wednesday 25 March
Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 5pm – 7 pm
Saturdays, 4pm – 7 pm
Venue: The Mill – Art, Culture and Crafts Centre, Birkirkara
Image credit: Charlene Galea and Jana Frost
