The overarching theme of Bree Apperley’s work is notions of the feminine within our late-capitalist era. This includes ideas of the female body and motherhood, craft in the form of handwork and textiles, domiciles and lifestyles. Sculptural pieces she has created are centered around the idea of a primordial suburbia, something like a display that a future cave-woman would place on her mantel or use as a shrine. The drawings are totemic symbols that could serve as pre-historic logos or branding from an ancient civilization. Simple black ink characters on paper enable the viewer to freely associate meaning based on the shapes and symbols represented. Apperley’s photography work is based firmly in the post-digital world, embracing and exploiting a new visual language concerned with ideas of intersection and reflection. The photos attempt to bring space and depth into a flat surface, expressing an intimate viewpoint. 

Shrine On in the Members’ Gallery, 2024.

In her work, Bree focuses on the things around us that we throw away and things we look at but no longer see. Old and thin towels, a trail of doilies, a length of chain, wadded up hosiery and clip art, but also silken wool, a humble coconut and light shining through a garden tulip brings a flashing moment of flawlessness. Beauty is witnessed from an oblique angle, and an abstracted spiritual space emanates.

These reconfigured objects and symbols come together in this exhibition to celebrate signifiers of femininity as well as to raise protest at their continued oppression. A beautiful flare of ecstatic feminine energy sent up that also signals a warning that if we neglect to articulate our unique worldview, things will slip back to their default position.

Shrine On will be on view in the Members’ Gallery of the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art from February 16 to March 9, 2024. You can see more of Bree Apperley's work on her Instagram @flowers_for_mom or her website.

Shrine On in the Members’ Gallery, 2024.