Girl Space Interview by Tahlia Dilberovic
Girl Space was an arts collective active in Adelaide from 2017 until 2020. The collective carved out a space for female identifying artists in the Adelaide Arts Scene, and placed them center stage - on a uni student budget! One of our editors sat down with Girl Space’s Founder, Lauren Gentall, two years after the Collective ended, to reflect and say our final goodbyes. The online bios for Girl Space describe it as a female, and female-identifying, art collective which aimed to create a supportive space for female artists and their work - Would you still describe Girl Space in this way today? I believe I would still describe it in the same way (mostly) today. When I started Girl Space I wasn’t as aware of gendered language as I am now, and I think I did find it hard to accurately express what Girl Space meant without using gendered language. Essentially – Girl Space was a place for artists who weren’t cis-gendered men. We wanted everyone else to have a place that was just for them, and celebrated them as artists and incredible people. So maybe today I would describe it without focusing so heavily on the feminine but largely, yes, the original description stands. How did Girl Space start? What inspired you to take the first steps? Girl Space started when I finished high school.I was practicing my own art a fair bit, and was surrounded by so many incredible artists. I felt overwhelmed at the thought of approaching studios and galleries to show my work as I perceived them as very professional, adult worlds. I didn’t have an art degree and hadn’t ever shown my work before so I was automatically locked out of spaces. Seeing the work of those talented, young artists around me I wanted to create a space that could show them off and introduce them to the wider community. What impact do you think Girl Space had on Adelaide’s creative community?
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