Can't touch this

Abstract

Kate Just also considers power and labour, but in a very different way. Her 2011–2013 work is a response to the history of the Palaeolithic Venus of Willendorf figurine, and it spells out ‘Venus’ in large cardboard letters across the gallery floor. Each letter is encased in fabric that has been knitted by Just and 55 other women. Made from tough jute string, the fabric is not just decorative. It also seems to shape and contain the letters, but the relationship is not made entirely clear. The tension here comes from thinking about what would happen to the cardboard letters, and the language and power structures they represent, if the network made by the women was removed. Total collapse? A ti..