The work: Alexandra Mills, Women of the Town, 2021. Salvaged birdcage wire, 150 x 200cm. Courtesy: the artist.
While the National Art School (NAS) in Sydney now stands as a preeminent institution for the meeting of artistic minds and the shaping of distinguished creative careers, the building it is housed in possesses a dark past. Sydney-based artist and recent NAS graduate Alexandra Mills’ research-based approach found her looking very close to home in her piece Women of the Town, seeking to give voice to the women once held at the Darlinghurst Gaol, which occupied the site until the early 20th century. This sculptural work, constructed from repurposed bird-cages, is based on photos of female prisoners held on short sentences for offences that would now seem archaic, including “no visible means of support” and “loiter on footway”. These women were faced with imprisonment for vagrancy due to circumstances often beyond their control, receiving punishment rather than fair treatment. Mills sees her practice as that of drawing in three dimensions, with a focus on materiality. “Materials provide the strongest aesthetic in my work. I like the idea of artwork being led by the materials,” she says, adding that, “repurposing materials is important to my practice which often recalls lost people and places.” Her approach bestows this piece with a sense of haunting permanence – in transforming these cages, she imbues their original purpose with new relevance. The societal cages around these women are made tangible, each individualised but no less a cage.