SO TO SPEAK (1988)

I curated So to Speak, with the work of artists Kim Truchan and Caroline Watson, at the Anna Leonowens Gallery (ALG), Halifax, in 1988.

While I was running the ALG, in my art practice I was interested in Symbolic Domestic Inversion; a term I coined to think about the ways domestic objects and imagery could be subverted. Influenced by Martha Rosler's Semiotics of the Kitchen, I was interested in turning the containment of the domestic into an outward looking practice through artwork which rescaled, repurposed or repositioned these everyday objects. Artists Kim Truchan and Caroline Watson were students at the time and their work spoke to this mentality.

The artists and I collaboratively chose the title So to Speak to give voice to this mode of domestic empowerment. The title could be taken colloquially, but with a change in intonation it becomes a more powerful vocalization (So, To Speak). 

With this fold out publication, I was putting into action my thoughts about graphic design and feminism, and in keeping with the artists work, aiming for a balance of subtlety and strength. This exhibition aligned with other shows we put on around that time which were placing value on domestic labour and giving voice to the people who traditionally held these roles in a more nuanced way.