Julie Rrap
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Julie Rrap (also known as Julie Parr, Julie Brown or Julie Brown-Rrap, born 1950) is an Australian contemporary artist who was raised on the Gold Coast in
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. She was born Julie Parr, and reversed her name to express her sense of opposition. Since the mid-1970's she has worked in photography, painting, sculpture, video and performance. Julie's work expresses her interest in images of the body, especially the female body.


Biography

Julie was born in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. Her family relocated to a small town,
Nerang Nerang is a town and suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. In the , the suburb of Nerang had a population of 17,048 people. Geography The Nerang River flows through the locality from south to east, passing through the town ...
, in the Hinterlands off the Gold Coast, Queensland, which is where she grew up with her sister and brothers who included Mike Parr—an artist with whom she has often collaborated. In 1971, she completed her Bachelor of Arts Degree at the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
, Brisbane Australia. In 1974 she continued studies in painting and drawing at the National Art School,
East Sydney Technical College The National Art School (NAS) is a tertiary level art school, located in , an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The school is an independent accredited higher education provider offering specialised study in studio arts p ...
(later the City Art Institute), at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
. In 1975 she studied at the Power Worksheds in the Fine Arts Department of the University of Sydney. In 1976 she studied photo media at the City Art Institute in
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
. In Julie Rrap's early career she was running a photographic business with John Delacour who is also a photographer. The business mainly specialised in reproductions of magazines, catalogues, and fine art books. In 1975 Rrap worked with members of a
performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...
group (Alex Danko, Mike Parr,
Noel Sheridan Cecil Noel Sheridan (12 December 1936 – 12 July 2006) was an Irish painter, performance artist, installation artist and actor. He was a member of Aosdána, an elite Irish association of artists. Early life Sheridan was born in Dublin in 1936. ...
,
Joan Grounds Joan Grounds (born 31 August 1939) is an American-born artist. She has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally from 1967. Her solo and collaborative artwork is held in the National Gallery of Australia (ceramics), the National Gallery o ...
and Tim Burns) from the University of Sydney. In 1976, Rrap married Bill Brown, a painter. In the 1980s Rrap focused a lot of her time at universities and art schools such as the
Australian Centre for Photography The Australian Centre for Photography (ACP) was a not-for-profit photography gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney, Australia that was established in 1973 and which also provided part-time courses and community programs. One of the longest running c ...
,
Alexander Mackie College ''Alexander Mackie College'' was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1958 to 1974 continuing as ''Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education'' from 1975 to 1981. In January 1982 the ...
, Meadowbank, East Sydney Technical College, and
Sydney College of the Arts The Sydney College of the Arts (SCA) is a contemporary art school that was a faculty of the University of Sydney from 1990 until 2017, when it became a school of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Until the end of 2019, the campus was locat ...
, providing lectures in art and design, painting, photography, and photo-media. Julie Rrap then lived in France and Belgium between 1986 and 1994. This helped to ground her work in a more international context, and she exhibited widely during this period. In 1994. Julie returned to Australia. In 2010, Rrap completed her PhD at
Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...
in Melbourne, Australia. Rrap lives and works in Sydney, and frequently travels between Europe and Australia for exhibitions and the creation of her works. She continues to work in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney and leads research and publishes about artists.


Artist career

In 2018, The University of Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Art published interviews with three ''Creative Women of Sydney''. In her interview, Rrap noted that
"As a very young artist I was very influenced by the writings of
Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, nor was she ...
but as art history did not foreground the work of many women artists it was hard to think at the time of women artists who might influence my work." She continued "this ‘lack therefore influenced my decision to make art as I felt there was so much missing from that history that could represent female sensibilities."
Rrap's artistic career began in the 1970s where she explored painting, performance, photography, sculpture and video. Rrap’s artistic influences throughout her career have always been the human form and how it is represented in media and society, particularly females in Western Society. Julie uses this influence to "…poke fun at the stereotypical representations of women transforming these characters into active agents for change." – Julie Rrap. Using her body, suggestions of the body and representations of the body to complete her work. Rrap exhibited her first solo exhibition as Julie Brown in 1982, ''Disclosures: A Photographic Construct'' held at the Central Street Gallery in Sydney. This installation was made up of 60 black-and-white and 19 coloured photographs of her own naked body posed to challenge the traditional "male gaze" of the female nude. Some photos showed her in various costumes and various suggestive poses, some cut up and collaged with parts of the body absent. The coloured photos all showed her full nude body. This work influenced future feminist art. Rrap has continued to use her own body in her works right up to her 2009 video work ''360 Degree Self-Portrait.'' In her early works, Rrap superimposed photos of herself on images by Manet,
Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French people, French Impressionism, Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, Print ...
and
Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 â€“ 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...
. In this way she imposed her own image as an artist to disrupt the given models. In 1994, her work ''Transpositions'' covered a wall with 100 boards on which were printed photographs of historical portraits of women. Each woman's eyes captures the viewer's gaze. They are no longer the model of the original artist, but women on their own. This is Rrap's way of stressing the women's lives over art history and the traditional male gaze. This work was a turning point; she stopped using her own body image. Now she may use skin, leather or other materials but she still explores the relationship between the female image and how it is portrayed in whatever media. Julie Rrap is represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney and Arc One Gallery, Melbourne


Awards and honours

Rrap has been awarded a number of fellowships, residencies and other recognition, including: *1986,
Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and
Power Institute of Fine Arts The Power Institute of Fine Arts is a teaching and research department, encompassing the fields of art history and theory, within the University of Sydney. It was established from a bequest by artist John Joseph Wardell Power (1881–1943). B ...
,
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
*1989, Fellowship Grant -
Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...
*1995, Multi-Year Fellowship - Australia Council for the Arts *1997, Cité Des Arts, Paris, and AGNSW Studio *1999, Project Grant - Australia Council for the Arts *2001, Hermann's Art Award *2002, Fellowship Grant - Australia Council for the Arts *2007, Project Grant - Australia Council for the Arts *2008,
Redlands Art Prize Redlands, Sydney Church of England Co-educational Grammar School, is a multi-campus Independent school, independent co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primary, and Secondary school, secondary day Anglican school ...
- Mosman Gallery *2009, Clemenger Contemporary Art Award -
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
*2009, National Artists’ Self-portrait Prize -
University of Queensland Art Museum The University of Queensland Art Museum is the art museum and public gallery of the University of Queensland in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre at the St Lucia, Queensland, St Lucia campus. The University of Queensland Art Collection is no ...
,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...


Solo exhibitions

Source: *2004 Soft Targets, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney *2005 Soft Targets, ARC One gallery, Melbourne, Australia *2005 Gallery, Victoria, Australia *2006 Fall Out, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney *2007 Embodied, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle *2007 Body Double, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney *2009 Escape Artist: Castaway, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney *2010 OuterSpace, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne *2010 360° Self-Portrait, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney *2011 Julie Rrap: Off Balance, Lismore Regional Gallery, Lismore, NSW *2012 Loaded, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney *2014 Rrapture: Julie Rrap, Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle *2024 Past Continuous, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney


Collections

Images of works by Julie Rrap can be seen at a number of art gallery websites. The following collections all hold works by the artist. * Art Gallery of New South Wales https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/search/?q=Julie+rrap * Art Gallery of South Australia https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/creators/julie-rrap/5932/ * Art Gallery of Western Australia (no images available) * National Gallery of Australia https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/search.cfm * National Gallery of Victoria https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/1369/ * Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art (no images available. * University of Melbourne, Vizard Foundation Art Collection https://www.vizardfoundationartcollection.com.au/the-nineties/explore/julie-rrap/


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rrap, Julie Living people 1950 births People from Lismore, New South Wales 20th-century Australian artists 20th-century Australian women artists 21st-century Australian artists Australian video artists 21st-century Australian women artists University of Queensland alumni Monash University alumni Artists from New South Wales Women's Art Register artists