The Black Wedding Dress
(Performance stills)

2011, charcoal on paper and multimedia projection, 300 x 400 cm., 67 x 51 cm

Jane Hylton
Curator and Collections consultant

In 2011 Yvonne East took part in a spoken and visual performance piece developed by south coast writer Michelle Murray. Titled The Black Wedding Dress, the exhibition included works by other South Australian artists Nyorie Bungey, Michael Bryant, Barbary O’Brien and Annabelle Collett. For her part East drew, in charcoal, a larger-than-life naked figure lightly suspended from bound wrists. Over the surface of this drawing , itself suspended at the end of the room in which the performance took place, images were projected that seemed to relate to the figure but paradoxically also apparently came from a different time and place. Some, like tribal symbols or bolts of lightening, appeared threatening, while others were more soothing and comforting. The whole effect however was deeply unsettling and evoked disquiet in the viewer.

Michelle Murray, (2011). The Black Wedding Dress, Art Monthly Australia, issue 242, pp 40 – 42 [ill inc.]