Carly Snoswell “Since 1989”
13th July – 5th August 2018
“As long as I can remember I have been an avid fan of the Port Adelaide Football Club, and consequently an obsessive knitter of all things black, white and teal. Each week the PAFC Cheer Squad come together to create the team banner, erected on match day for the team to run through in a ritual practice of solidarity. Fans are notoriously prolific producers, and through craft practices they are able to engage in their fan community in a tactile, creative way. For Since 1989 I have created my own banner, in an act of obsessive devotion.
My love of PAFC was inevitable given my family background, as my mum says: “Honey, you were born a Port supporter”. Through this exercise in banner making, using textile construction as a method for engaging in fandom, I aim to navigate this inescapable development in my identity. Additionally, I attempt to validate the repetitive and obsessive tendencies that develop through involvement in fandom and hobby crafts, working to challenge notions of superficiality and inferiority to present the deep emotional connection that is felt through this engagement. Within this ritual I invite the audience to contemplate their own fanatical affinities in order to highlight the importance of these communities in promoting social inclusion and helping to develop a greater sense of belonging.”
Carly Snoswell is an emerging Adelaide artist exploring fandom and the creation of craft objects as an ode to particular pop-cultural phenomenon through gendered and laborious forms of craft-making. In 2012 she graduated with First Class Honours at the South Australian School of Art and since then has exhibited widely including internationally. Snoswell was Co-Director at FELTspace ARI and has participated in studio residencies in Adelaide, Melbourne, India, and New York with upcoming residencies in Japan and Iceland. She is currently completing Masters by Research at the South Australian School of Art, is a member of Holy Rollers Studios and Programming Coordinator at Carlcew’s Pom Pom.
This exhibition is a part of the South Australian Living Arts festival.
