The Bold and the Beautiful Award.
DESIRING THE SELF: Embracing Autonomy & Rethinking The Gaze
![Artists, Tamara Perrett, sitting infront of a glowing window holding the painting ‘A Very Seductive Bubble Bath’ and looking at it.](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/9BAB14A5-030F-4382-AE27-EED853A369D2.jpeg)
I am a young, queer, multi-disciplinary artist based in Melbourne/Naarm working across mediums of painting, drawing, sculpture and video performance. My artistic practice explores how self-reflexive eroticism and sexual exploration through art can be a gesture of feminine empowerment and notes the faculty of bodily decadence.
My work navigates the intricacies of sex, sexuality, identity and pleasure by prescribing a ‘normalising function’ to these notions. By presenting these themes in the realm of art, I bestow them with value and cultural significance.
Inspired by the female form in Western art history, I approach my art from a perspective that challenges and liberates it from the conventional hetro-patriarchal Male Gaze, situating my practice between a Female and Queer Gaze. This allows me to establish a space where autonomy, identity and desirability can thrive without inhibition.
Ultimately my works intention is to exemplify a sense of exploration, comfort and empowerment in feminine sexuality and desire.
instagram: @trashartstudent
![Artists, Tamara Perrett, squatting down and extending her arm up to work on the painting ‘Afterglow’](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/582EB9BC-359A-474C-8BD9-C8CD83964254.jpeg)
![Figurative painting on a bed sheet draped on a pin on a wall](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/229CA627-A53B-4FB8-9A92-43EC964D2158.jpeg)
![Still image of video work ‘Behind Closed Doors’ presented on wall mounted digital tv monitor.](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/A1D91444-0A37-4EBC-99F2-38D0B65D1E91.jpeg)
![Painting of female presenting figure sitting in a bubble bath with knees bent. Face and extended arm cropped out of frame.](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/268CF4E3-D130-41F1-AFDB-44646443483F.jpeg)
![Artist, Tamara Perrett, Sitting next to her large painting ‘After Glow’](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/05FB7684-84E6-4F34-862C-68856F27CCBF.jpeg)
![Artists, Tamara Perrett, holding sculptural work titled ‘Drapery’ in front of their torso](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/F4AD64C5-3003-4FC8-A59C-614F50BF3761.jpeg)
![Oil painting depicting a female presenting figure reclining on a bed with back facing the viewer](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/24FD40F5-7AEF-4DB4-B2B8-1D8BE8D423FA.jpeg)
![Artist, Tamara Perrett, standing next to painting ‘Entangled In The Bed Sheets’ and spreading out the bed sheet](https://sites.rmit.edu.au/artschoolgraduates/files/2023/10/82383195-3049-450D-B12F-1D2EDFEEEF5C.jpeg)