A Girl Like You

At Penrith Regional Gallery from 7 May to 14 August 2022.

Linda’s expansive practice is informed by personal experience, as well as the lives of the women that she surrounds herself with, including her local community, as well as artists and authors, both contemporaries and throughout history. In doing so, Brescia creates a space for under or misrepresented women to speak for themselves.

The exhibition has its origins in a process of community engagement whereby Brescia was embedded in the suburb of Kingswood, working closely with local women to understand and facilitate a dialogue around visibility and safety.

This project, titled Skirts, resulted in the series of life-sized portraits of participants on fabric. In collaboration with Brescia and author Felicity Castagna, the Skirts cohort have devised a manifesto – a declaration that combines poetic observations by the women, as well as a list of actions or demands. Here, the manifesto takes the form of a large-scale mural adoring the gallery wall.

Brescia also presents portraits of contemporary figures Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins. For Brescia, these dual figures represent the varied experiences of women in the public sphere, as both fierce advocates for safety and representation, as well as figures for whom anonymity is not an option.

The exhibition title was gleaned from a studio visit with the artist, where a note had been made for these central works, ‘a girl like Grace’ and ‘a girl like Brittany’. If these two figures are emblematic of the strength and resilience of women in Australia today, the title perhaps speaks to the inherent solidarity that exists between all of us who embrace a spirit of the feminine.

Skirts was produced and presented by C3West on behalf of the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia in partnership with Penrith City Council.