Networked: Abby Colthup

Country Couture

13 — 19 November, 2020

Country Couture is a response to Bob Katter’s comments made in 2019 whilst campaigning in the regional town of Dalby, where he likened queer sexuality to a ‘fashion trend’. In an act of reclamation and unification of identity and place, Colthup dances in celebration of their queerness and country locale. Through this affectionate, compelling and cringeworthy display of joy, Colthup demonstrates the powerful implications of movement in depicting and representing marginalised bodies. Offering speculative scenarios towards queering country, Colthup addresses their admiration and agitation with a community that still views them as a subject of abnormality.

Abby Colthup is an emerging interdisciplinary artist and curator, based in Meanjin/Brisbane. Their work addresses personal narratives of queer identity, family and class culture in Australian society; often exposing their own expectations, anxieties and transgressions. Born into an intergenerational farming family on Barunggam/Bundjalung land, Colthup’s work is influenced by, and critical of, cultural phenomena that shapes and informs these regional communities. Throughout their practice they use photography, performance and sound as tools to navigate representation in both physical and digital spaces.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.