Carolyn Craig: Becoming Penguin (Act II)

PARKER Contemporary is pleased to present Becoming Penguin (Act II), a new exhibition by Sydney-based contemporary artist Carolyn Craig.

In this body of work, Carolyn uses the figure of the penguin to examine how judgement is carried through the body. The penguin is not simply a character or disguise, but a constructed identity through which the artist tests the pressures of adaptation and belonging. As Carolyn reflects, “I want to huddle against the cruelty of the world. I want to become penguin in all its absurdist overtones.”

The exhibition begins in performance, with Carolyn inhabiting this figure before the action is documented, stilled and subjected to classification. Through this process, the playful absurdity of the penguin becomes increasingly uneasy. It is a body made visible, sorted and read through a system that appears neutral but has already set the terms.

Informed by Michelle Alexander’s writing on the contemporary caste system, Becoming Penguin (Act II) considers how structural exclusion can be made to appear voluntary. Carolyn uses humour and transformation to unsettle ideas of innocence and blame, asking how identities of criminality or deviance are produced rather than simply found.

The exhibition officially opens on Friday July 3 from 6:00–8:00 pm with an artist talk the following day from 2:00–3:00 pm.