Kate Just
The Skin of Hope
24 May - 30 June 2012
In The Skin of Hope, Kate Just presents an evocative and personal series of knitted sculptural works and photographs produced during a recent Australia Council Residency in Barcelona. While in Spain with her partner and child, Just reclaimed her formative use of hand knitting and photographic media, to weave an account of the ways she and her non-biological child Harper imprint and bond with each other at skin level. Through the exhibition Just frames skin as both a receptive and transmissive space, bearing witness to our most intimate moments.
Kate Just was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1974 and moved to Melbourne permanently in 1996. Just is currently undertaking a PhD at Monash University and has a Master of Arts from RMIT, Bachelor of Fine Arts from VCA and Bachelor of Science (film making) from Boston University. She is a Lecturer in Art at VCA. Just has exhibited extensively including at Auckland Art Fair, IC Institute New York, Craft Victoria, Gertrude Contemporary, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne Art Fair, Contemporary Art Space of Tasmania, Chalk Horse Gallery, Nellie Castan Gallery, First Draft, MOP, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Canberra Contemporary Art Space and Daine Singer. The exhibition at Daine Singer coincides with a survey exhibition of Just’s major knitted works at Ararat Regional Gallery entitled Kate Just: The Knitted Work 2004 – 2011.
In 2011 Just was International Artist in Residence at KREMS Kunsthalle, Austria, where she held a solo exhibition. In 2012 Just undertook an Australia Council Residency in Barcelona. Her work is held in collections including Artbank, Ergas Collection, City of Port Phillip, Ararat Regional Art Gallery and Proclaim Management Collection