Untitled (detail), Sarah Lucas, 2012.

If you’re afraid of a little skin, this show may not be your cup of tea. But maybe you’ll see there is nothing to be afraid of.

Public Body .01 is the first venture in Artspace’s three-part series on the concept of the body.

The human body is so often sexualised, exploited, idealised, fetishised and objectified. It can almost no longer be viewed without judgment or critique. Public Body .01 explores the rawness of physicality by depicting the body at its most bare. Flesh is exhibited in nearly every corner of the gallery space, represented in sculptures, music videos, performance works and photography.

The representation of the body in art has a long history in relation to the nude, where images of the body were constructed by and filtered through the male gaze. Public Body .01 attempts to reclaim the body through subverting the heteronormative narrative of art history and offering a spectrum of representations by artists from different contexts.

When you enter the exhibition, you walk smack-bang into an array of penises and vaginas, with a myriad of studio portraits plastered across the gallery wall. Aptly titled ‘Yearbook’, Ryan McGinley’s photographic series is the product of 7 years spent photographing individuals in what is often referred to as their most vulnerable state: their ‘birthday suit’.

Each individual has their own portrait, about A3 in size, demanding equal attention to all bodies. Each normalise one another’s nakedness. With coloured backdrops, the wall is reminiscent of a stereotypical teenage bedroom covered in vintage playboy and magazine images, as McGinley shows the proliferation of the nude in mass media.

The exploration of the body cannot be without the connotation of sexuality. With works involving bedazzled vaginas and erect penises printed on silk scarves, the body and its sexuality is depicted in the exhibit as a vessel to accessorise and personalise. The exhibit contains so many different representations of the body to raise the question: who or what can qualify what is natural or normal?

Public Body 0.1 is tactile, much like the physical body. It subverts the elitism of the gallery space as the personal and private becomes public, making it feel like a safe space.

If you’re afraid of a little skin, this show may not be your cup of tea – but maybe, you’ll see there is nothing to be afraid of.

Installation view of The Public Body .01, curated by Talia Linz and Alexie Glass-Kantor, Artspace. Photo: Jessica Maurer.

Installation view of The Public Body .01, curated by Talia Linz and Alexie Glass-Kantor, Artspace. Photo: Jessica Maurer.

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WHAT: Public Body 0.1, curated by Talia Linz and Alexie Glass-Kantor
WHO: Abdul Abdullah
, A.K. Burns, 
A.L. Steiner
, Tianzhuo Chen, Merlin James
, Pope.L, 
Claire Lambe
, Sarah Lucas, 
Ryan McGinley, 
Carter Mull
, Sterling Ruby
, Mark Shorter, 
Justin Shoulder, 
Amalia Ulman, 
Lyndal Walker, 
Rohan Wealleans, 
Paul Yore
WHERE: Artspace Sydney
WHEN: 25 August – 23 October 2016
HOW MUCH: FREE – more info here