Framing Labour – Hierarchy, Feminism and Artistic Value in Craft and the Visual Arts
Join artists Jasminka Ward-Matievic, Sam Seary and Lauren Cameron for a live panel discussion exploring the intersections of gender, class, labour and value within the visual arts – moderated by artist and curator Madeleine Thornton-Smith. Together, the artists will discuss their works in the current Vitrine Gallery exhibition Salon Hang , reflecting on the frame as a metaphor for under appreciated labour, artistic hierarchies, gender and how these value systems continue to shape their practices.
"The art and craft divide is not only a class, but a gendered division. Western art history organises the visual arts into a stratified system of values and classifications, leading to a hierarchy of art forms. The world of work and the domestic sphere are split, leading to a separation of types of gendered labour but also mediums and materials. Painting and sculpture often occupy an elevated cultural status compared to homely crafts such as weaving, pottery and mosaic, sometimes coined the ‘applied’, ‘decorative’ or ‘lesser’ arts (Parker & Pollock, 2021). In real terms, this means women and non-binary artists and craftworkers still face a significant gender pay gap in Australia."
/ Madeleine Thorton-Smith (2025)
This panel will be recorded live via the curator’s Instagram @madeleinethorntonsmith and will feature in-person Auslan interpretation.
Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants & Creative Victoria.
