Jhana Millers is pleased to officially welcome Caitlin Devoy to the gallery.
“Devoy's work is full of startling contradictions. Both viscerally unnerving and oddly seductive. Pornographic and neutered. Excoriating and tender. Hilariously, decadently camp, but with a deadly serious intent. They are utterly fresh yet somehow ancient, like a pair of nipple tassels fluttering in a primaeval breeze.” Hera Lindsay Bird, 2024
Caitlin Devoy lives in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington. She has shown at the gallery several times, including the solo exhibition Display in 2019, and the joint exhibitions SWITCH with Robbie Handcock in 2021 and The Rose and Her Thorns with Hye Rim Lee in 2023.
Caitlin’s practice embraces the transgressive power of the comedic as both honey and sting, revealing the power relations encoded in representations of the body. The sculptures subvert everyday objects whose specific functions and tactile associations are familiar to the viewer. Her material choices underscore the humour, imbuing the objects with bodily characteristics and undermining binary representations of masculinity and femininity.
Caitlin is en route to the Venice Biennale where she is presenting BODY OBJECTS as part of the exhibition Personal Structures – Beyond Boundaries at the Palazzo Mora, Venice, 20 April – 24 November 2024. Caitlin gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Creative NZ for their support of this exhibition.
Caitlin Devoy, Image by Sophia Smolenski