Launch: Wednesday 21 May 6–8PM

the nail saLOL is a participatory work that depicts a nail salon as a transient space where people of varied social and intersectional backgrounds: salon service workers and the privileged clientele, interact through the provision of service. Societal disparities are embodied through the towering height of the sculptural work relative to the participant who will be seated as it provides service. This work plays on role inversion where the participant assumes the role of a nail technician who is commonly a working migrant holding a vulnerable temporary working visa. To diffuse the seriousness of the underlying discourse of the work, socially centred humour is featured in the work, giving comedy as a craft and as a creative expression, a space in contemporary art.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Jaja lives and work in Naarm/Melbourne. Over the years, her work has evolved from paintings and photographs to varying forms and material assemblages dictated by conceptual ideas. They explore social themes such as intersectionality and positionality, and utilise humour as a tool for delivery where possible. She would like to think of her works as vessels of memories and consciousness through which stories are told. Lived experiences, interactions, societal observations, musings and the everyday, are fertile grounds in their art making. Jaja is intrigued by the intricacies of the human condition and examining its multi-layered facets through a critical lens.

Image credit: Jaja, the nail salol, 2024, mixed media