Master Bedroom

2026

bed frame, timber planter boxes, soil, turf, bbq, tulle, acrylic painting in frame, window, branches, snake skin, lights, fan, metallic foil

This site specific installation brings together symbols of gendered rituals of suburban family life – the bbq, double bed, tulle fabric, edged lawn – are objects and materials representing clear gender roles and codes of morality.   The painting copies the patterns from inside and outside the mid-century suburban home – suggesting balance and predictability. Conversely, the assemblage inside the wardrobe disrupts that balance, bringing a sense wildness and uncertainty – the viewer is confronted or perhaps compelled towards movement and light behind a window. 

The term ‘Master bedroom’ speaks to the understanding that a wife’s domestic duties were in the service of her husband, the master of the house.   In this traditional heteronormative model, female sexuality is deprioritised. For some people the predictability and certainty of these social codes feels safe and comforting.  The expectations are clear. The men gather around the BBQ discussing work and sport, while the women make the salads and talk about fashion and children.  But for many people the model is unfulfilling and oppressive. The existence of lesbian, gay and queer sexualities is denied, condemned and criminalised.

Exhibited in Inside|Out 2026