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A major figure in Australian contemporary art, Professor鈥�Julie Rrap鈥痠s the co-director of 鈥�Sydney College of the Arts, and has been working in the mediums of photography, painting, sculpture, performance and video since the 1970s.

Professor Rrap鈥檚 new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 鈥痠s a major research output that extends鈥痟er ongoing interest in the representational histories of the female body in both western art and popular culture 鈥� a preoccupation prompted by the invisibility of women artists when she began her career.聽

鈥淲hen I went to art school and studied painting 40 or so years ago, I just kept opening history books, and there were so many images of women,鈥� Professor Rrap said. 鈥淏ut then I couldn鈥檛 really find a lot of women artists. As a young woman artist, that was a really impactful moment.鈥�

The lack of acknowledgement of women artists along with the limited view of how women鈥檚 bodies were repeatedly represented was something Professor Rrap felt compelled to address in her works, her research and her teaching practice at Sydney College of the Arts.聽

鈥淭here are so many women artists in history who were quite radical for their time in how they saw and depicted things, yet they were sidelined for being women,鈥� she said. 鈥淲omen are half the population. Women make art in different ways and perceive the world, including their bodies, in different ways. Why would you exclude that from the conversation?鈥�

Held in the MCA collection, Professor Rrap鈥檚 landmark 1982 installation鈥�Disclosures: A Photographic Construct鈥痭ow appears 42 years later alongside new works from鈥�Past Continuous.鈥疶he鈥痑rtist uses her own body as subject in the exhibition, which has been an ongoing practice in her work.

鈥淲hen I first got a camera, I took some photos of myself and I thought they would express something, but it was just a photo of me,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 find anything out. I realised that was the limitation of photography and our expectation of what it can reveal.聽

鈥淲hat I did notice was that you can鈥檛 see what I was looking at, so I started to shoot two cameras and two perspectives, as a sort of 鈥榩hoto doublespeak鈥�, a mirroring of front and back.鈥�

Disclosures features more than 70 photographs and self-portraits of the artist suspended in opposing rows. 聽

鈥淭he fact that I am both the artist and the subject gives me agency and permission 鈥� it鈥檚 a very simple way of saying that women have been more often the subject or object of the camera鈥檚 eye. When you take that person who鈥檚 normally looked at, and make them the one who looks at, then the two positions are conflated.鈥�

In the exhibition, Professor Rrap challenges traditional ideas of beauty as she reflects on how her own body changes through different stages of life.

鈥淭he human body has been used in art since the beginning of time,鈥� she said. 鈥淢y intervention is to play around and challenge fixed ideas and conventions about imaging the body, and to renegotiate how we might look at the female body, particularly the older female body.聽

鈥淲hen I first made Disclosures, I was 30-something years old. In art and in popular media, you always see a certain type of female body, usually young. The older female body isn鈥檛 very visible in our culture. I suddenly thought it would be interesting if I were to return to using myself now that I鈥檓 in my 70s.

鈥�Disclosures explores the鈥痚xcessive use of young female bodies in art, whereas鈥�Past Continuous鈥痜ocuses on the virtually invisible ageing body. My new exhibition is about uniting these two bodies together in the same time frame. I鈥檓 hoping it will make people reflect on that difference 鈥� the excessive versus the invisible body 鈥� and why that is.鈥�

As co-director of Sydney College of the Arts, revising the erasure of women artists in art history is crucial for art education and instruction, Professor Rrap said.

鈥淎rt is an expression of our human perception of the world 鈥� women have freshened up this history in a way and brought a whole other kind of sensibility to culture. Thankfully, young women artists coming into art school now have a framework in which to think about these concepts, supported by a proliferation of critical writings and greater visibility of women artists鈥� practice.聽

鈥淚f you鈥檙e a visual artist, to read things, to have context for the way you might be feeling and thinking, and to feel support from other women artists makes a huge difference,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about seeing what you could be.鈥�

Industry experience and practice-based learning are key pillars of education at Sydney College of the Arts, providing students with the skillset and opportunity to pursue many different avenues after graduating.

鈥淪ydney College of the Arts is very practice-based,鈥� Professor Rrap said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e conscious our academics are active artists, and we have a close connection to cultural institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art. It鈥檚 an important relationship between artists, the art world and art schools. Many of our students have become professional artists, many of them have gone into curating, or are working in galleries.聽

鈥淪ome of our most famous Australian artists have studied at Sydney College of the Arts and have taught here. That creates a strong reputation for SCA and is meaningful for students who study with us 鈥� they become part of an exciting and creative environment in which they learn from well-known artists who came before them."

Visit 聽at the Museum of Contemporary Art until 16 February 2025.

Hero image:聽Julie Rrap featuring聽Disclosures: A Photographic Construct,聽1982, installation view, image courtesy of the artist and MCA. Photo: Zan Wimberley.