Tension[s] 2020 Tamworth Textile Triennial Catalogue

Deborah Prior
Biography
Deborah Prior’s art practice navigates the
complexities and pleasures of having and
being a body, via craft practices including
knitting, stitching and embroidery
Using salvaged, stained, and damaged
material(s) from the domestic sphere, she
crafts soft sculptures, installations, and
performances that explore ideas of bodily
agency, disgust & desire, and the personal
and social histories of domestic work.
Most recently, Prior has been investigating
the shared visual language of body
fragments in medical illustration/
modelling and religious iconography,
positioning her textile pieces as profane
relics to invite conversation around the
contested knowledges, histories, and
mythologies of female corporeality.
Based in Adelaide, Prior has been crafting
strange anatomies for thirteen years.
She completed her PhD in Visual Arts
at the University of South Australia in
2014. In 2016 she spent several months
on residency in Italy as the recipient of
the Helpmann Academy British School in
Rome Residency, which continues to be a
rich vein of inspiration for her practice.
Image: Deborah Prior, 2020, Easter in the
Anthropocene. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
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