Enter the Lair

Research Background Enter the Lair forms part of broader scholarship in the fields of teratology and mythography, driven by cultural re-evaluations of the monstrous and otherness, particularly as they pertain to the feminine. Key texts in this field include Barbara Creed’s “The Monstrous Feminine”, Marina Warner’s “From the Beast to the Blonde” and Donna Haraway’s “A Cyborg Manifesto.” These themes offer fertile ground for a number of significant contemporary visual artists, as evidenced in the recent, high profile “My Monster” exhibition at RMIT Gallery. Research Contribution Enter the Lair represents an extension of my PhD, which sought to explore novel understandings and modes of presenting the female werewolf, from various fields and eras of history. The new, interactive elements opened up the possibility of visitors immersing themselves more fully into the worlds and histories of the female werewolf through visual self-identification, and also engaged with new creative possibilities for the digital technologies of sublimation printing and social media. Research Significance Benalla Art Gallery is one of Australia's premier regional galleries, supported by Creative Victoria. BAG commissioned the Enter the Lair solo exhibition for their Simpson Gallery, incorporating a selection of pre-existing reduction linocut portraits along with new, purpose-produced interactive elements. The latter consisted of a large-scale digital sublimation print on cloth which served as a photographic backdrop, and paper-based werewolf kits which visitors could construct and wear for the purpose of producing selfies, which they were then encouraged to post on social media. The exhibition included wall texts that contained biographical information on each female werewolf and also provided insights into visual motifs within the works.