The Mill welcomes emerging artist Frances Cohen and their new exhibition The Many Faces of Frances, curated by emerging curator Christina Lauren.
Drawing on identity politics, and underpinned by theories of the self, Frances’ portraiture explores what it is to know and to understand the complexity of one’s self. Frances uses found images alongside photographic selfies layered with thick paint and gap filler to create a textural surface where features of the portraits are obscured, slipping and displaced. The works are uncanny, evocative and emotional, conveying a sense of uncertainty and heaviness while also appealing to the empathetic recognition of the viewer, eliciting the question who is this portrait of, could it be me?
Frances and curator Christina Lauren have worked together to present this exhibition which invites audiences to consider conceptual underpinnings alongside Frances’ use of material and process. Within this, they have generously opened a discussion around mental illness, and in particular Borderline Personality Disorder, which Frances speaks about from a personal perspective.
Artist Statement
It’s hardly a ground-breaking revelation to say that all of us comprise a pastiche of everyone we’ve ever met. It is a well-known cliché that we are shaped by those around us, moulded through interactions with others that inform our worldview and our tastes. What is generally implied by this notion is that we have one overarching sense of who we are, with certain aspects of our personality being in flux as we move through life and have different experiences. I have always struggled to hold down my sense of self. I feel like I have been many different people to many different people; a different character tailored to each new audience member, worn like a mask. With that said, basic empathy also affords us the knowledge that each of us has their own mask; a face they present to the world that has been forged from a lifetime of hurt feelings and awkward encounters. I just seem to have accumulated a lot of them. Every character I’ve played has their own mask, forged through different lifetimes of impulsivity and self-destruction. Often it feels like I am wearing multiple at once; like I am staring out at the world around me from behind multiple numb layers of cracked plaster. Each of these paintings is a self-portrait. I am at the core of each one, hiding underneath the layers I find easier to heap upon myself, rather than deal with.
Curatorial Statement
'The Many Faces of Frances' unearths a truly vulnerable series of self-portraits created Frances Cohen. The series explores Frances' warped sense of self-image, where each painting seeks to survey the idea of a constructed personality, and complex emotions. Frances' diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder often presents within the work as a construction of different personas, which she says 'alter my outward appearance to try and hide the gaps in my personality'.
Frances’ portraits resonate deeply with the viewer through a balance of familiarity and alienness. The viewer recognises themselves in the self-portraits through universal feelings of sadness, numbness, anger and a sense of being lost. Frances' ability to capture sadness, particularly within the eyes of each portrait, is a stand-out feature. Where most painters use the eyes to promote connection and recognition, Frances paints exclusively around them. This provides a novel view, almost reversing the mirror of the portrait and asking the viewer to look outwards rather than within. What image do they project? What mask do they paint on top, to hide their painful depth?
Portraiture has long provided a relationship between ones-self and the subject, allowing for reassurance of some of our most difficult feelings. In a time of great uncertainty, it is natural to search for what it means to be human and what it means to have human experiences. The Many Faces of Frances seeks to do just this, while also fighting against the stigma of mental health, in particular Borderline Personality Disorder, which remains one of the most misunderstood diagnoses. Frances’ portraits provide insight into the disorder, challenging preconceived perceptions, and giving audiences the opportunity to recognise how emotions felt by those with Borderline Personality Disorder are not so far from their own.
Artist Biography
Frances Cohen is a painter living and working on Kaurna Yarta. She attended the University of South Australia, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art in 2020 and completed her honours year in 2021. She has previously exhibited work in Two Factor Authentication (2021), A Quarter Turn Around the Sun (2020), Friends (2019) and has contributed work to UniSA’s annual Art on Campus exhibition. She has also been published in Regurgitate (2021), Non-Compliant Quarterly (2019) and numerous editions of Verse magazine.
Curator Biography
Christina Lauren is an emerging curator and currently the Carclew Resident curator, as part of their 2021 Sharehouse program. Graduating a Bachelor of Contemporary Art in 2019, Christina implements her experience and knowledge as a visual artist into her curatorial practices, as well as allowing her passion for arts theory to guide her. She is a multi-media artist, currently working mostly in oil paint, exploring notions of the human condition and mental health. Christina has worked previously as a curator through City of Adelaide’s Emerging Curator program supported by Carclew in 2019, as well as launching a collaborative arts music project with Bad Habits Events in 2019, ‘Blossom Art Space’. Christina began her residency at Carclew in 2020, and has continued through to 2021.
Christina has participated in numerous group exhibitions, including ‘Unwearable’ at Cloister Workrooms, Kaurna Land 2017, ‘Art on Campus’ in the West Oak Hotel, Kaurna Land 2018, 'Inevitable’ in Carclew House Foyer, Kaurna Land 2019, University of South Australia’s ‘Art on Campus’, Kaurna Land, 2019 and Mindshare SA’s ‘Mindshare 2021 Exhibition’, Adelaide City Library, 2021. Christina was awarded the 2021 SALA Contemporary Curator Award for her curatorial role in ‘Refractions’ at Carclew.
