Cynthia Schwertsik, My Name, 2022, acrylic paint, ephemeral mural at Murray Bridge Regional Gallery, 232 x 681 cm. Commissioned by Country Arts SA and presented with support from Murray Bridge Regional Gallery. Image: Sam Roberts.

MY NAME

Round the world, throughout urban space the same structure, it seems to cover the world in which I read / or at least manage to decode simple written signs. I observe the signs, the official city mapping of streets and monuments that represent the male history. While I find my way through a city I start to read the signs, apart from the billboard beauties, I read a lot of first names – Suzanne, Lolita, Victoria – depending very much on the region I might see Mimi’s imported Fashion, Rose Imbiss & Doris cafe or Gül Hairdresser & Fatima’s Flowers, or Brigitte Boutique & Erna’s Pedicure – these signs tell a different story; Her story? Shop fronts that form a female presence. Women prefer to define themselves economically with a first name – not the name of the father or husband, but the given name, women take part in public space, representing the dynamic and fluctuation nature of small business.

LAST NAME

in the name of the given name – we follow up her story, individual little stories, memory put together –like pearls on a string, each shows a different dream, destiny, reality – to indicate the wild, the adventurous, “average” life of women in all colours. In biographical notes we are recognised.
The photographs of the presence of the shop signs representing first names in the streets draw our attention to visualise and imagine the potential of lives, lived by women. You will find yourself tracking down the suggestions of female presence in your surrounding.

Cynthia Schwertsik. My Name (in-progress detail) 2022. acrylic paint, ephemeral mural installation at Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, dimensions variable. Commissioned by Country Arts SA and presented with support from Port Pirie Regional Gallery. Image: Kathy Gould.