About

Photographer Clare Rae is an artist working in Melbourne, Australia. Her photographic practice often explores ideas of performance and gesture to interrogate and subvert dominant modes of representation. Her work is heavily influenced by femininity, and presents an alternate, and often awkward, experience of subjectivity and the female body, typically using her own.

Known for her engagement with domestic and institutional spaces, recently Rae’s work has been captured and exhibited in locations such as the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), the National Gallery of Victoria, Monash University, the Abbotsford Convent, Sutton Project Space and the Substation, Melbourne. In Rae’s recent projects, she has engaged with site specificity, involving works that are captured and displayed within the same environment.

Photo analysis

In this image, we can see Clare balancing herself on top of two plain rectangular boxes. I think this image is incredibly powerful and produces a message to the viewer. The message links to femininity and potentially what it’s like for women at the workplace due to the file cabernet beside her. The words fragile are littered all over the boxes potentially hinting that women have to be especially careful within the work environment, since they are not viewed the same as men, meaning that even the slightest mistake could have an explosive impact. This point also links back to Rae balancing herself on the boxes, trying not to fall.

This image also links to femininity, but shows us how women are represented in a court room, rather than the work place. In the image we can see Rae laying on the table, in front of where the judge would sit. She is below where the other members of court would be, perhaps signalling that she has no control. This connects to what its like for some women in the world, who have had their fates controlled by those in a higher power to them. The idea that can also be signified through colour green, since it is only on Rae’s skirt and the carpet on the floor. This again signifies that women are considered lower.