Girls Space Retrospective

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?

I think Adelaide’s artistic scene is really interesting – we host these incredible, globally renowned events like Fringe, WOMAD and the Adelaide Festival but we sometimes forget about the home-grown, up and coming talent. Since moving away from Adelaide, I can see what our artistic scene does really well and where it lacks. I think that the artistic scene in Adelaide can be a bit stiff and unapproachable. On the other hand, we also have a great experimental arts scene - but even that can still seem unapproachable for the opposing crowds. I really hope that Girl Space has shown young artists that they are welcome in that community, and to maybe bridge that gap and invite people from all levels of knowledge and wider arts communities to join in and enjoy art.

Do you have any tips for fostering a community through an online presence?

Attempting to foster a community online was something that I initially struggled with but I think finding ways to reach through the screen and make the online spaces feel like home really helped. One of my favourite things we did during COVID was the studio tour series on Instagram. It was something I began in person, travelling to people’s spaces and photographing them personally which I bloody loved! Obviously, COVID came and we had to ask people to do those bits themselves and I just turned it all into a nice little write-up. The series was really well received and I think it worked because people felt that they were really having a personal connection with these people.

Do you feel as though Girl Space truly ended or do you think the metaphorical torch was passed along to others in the Adelaide community?

Although what we were doing personally has ended, from afar I have loved watching new and exciting events and spaces come to life. I think our torch was passed on to each artist we worked with, and I always feel so incredibly proud of their achievements.

Is there anything about Girl Space that no one ever asks, but you wish they would?

Although it’s not necessarily something I wish people knew, I think it’s useful to talk about the work that went on behind the scenes that people generally didn’t know about. When I started Girl Space, I funded it from my own pocket while working two jobs and studying nursing at uni. As we grew a little, I could make enough from one event to fund the next project, and when Hannah joined she helped a lot with that side of it. But logistically and organisationally – it was a lot of hard, often boring, work behind the scenes, which Hannah and I did while working full time. We came up against so many obstacles and , although we began with the intent of showing in a lot of galleries and spaces, we still found that particular galleries and spaces unfortunately remained unapproachable for those not classically trained or with a massive portfolio. Unfortunately, I think this is the side of art that gets forgotten about, and people can underestimate the behind the scenes work that goes into creating anything.

How did running Girl Space change you?

Running Girl Space taught me to be relatively fearless in so many aspects. I couldn’t be afraid to approach businesses, galleries, even government bodies, to ask for what I needed for those I was working for. I had to often fake it till I made it and through that I learned so much from asking others and seeking help. It reminded me all the time how much I cherish art, music and community, and I really miss that.

Retrospective