SOMOS (Standing On My Own Shoulders) – from the exhibition “Past Continuous” (28 June 2024 – 2 March 2025) at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney – is an unusually powerful work. A life-size bronze sculpture of acclaimed Australian artist Julie Rrap (born 1950, Widjabul Wia-bal Country/Lismore), it captures the artist literally standing on her own shoulders in a moment of forward motion. Her 75-year-old female body, exposed, retaining fragility carries with it much experience and history, and displays without inhibition its dependence upon its own strong and resilient self through the years, boldly refusing to give false credit to outside forces under pressure.

Using traditional casting techniques and materials, the sculpture disrupts conventional depictions of the female nude throughout Western art history, which are predominantly youthful and idealised. Its classical form also challenges the history of monuments and what is monumentalised. “As a parodic gesture Standing On My Own Shoulders is an act of defiance,” Rrap says, “and an expression of independence from the hierarchies of history that privilege certain perspectives over others.”

“It’s also quite playful,” Rrap adds. “I wanted to make sure the figure standing on my shoulders has a certain vulnerability to it, and I feel like it has achieved that.”

Julie Rrap has been a major figure in Australian contemporary art for over 40 years. Through photography, video, performance, sculpture and drawing, she examines representations of the body in art and popular culture over time.

In recent years, Rrap has reflected on the invisibility of the aging female body and how we look or look away when confronted by certain bodies. “Past Continuous” also features the artist’s landmark installation “Disclosures: A Photographic Construct” (1982) from the MCA Collection, as well as new and recent works using the artist’s body 42 years later. Since Disclosures, Rrap has used the camera as a powerful feminist tool to give agency to the model (often herself) as both the object and subject of her works.

The artist is represented by Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney and Arc One Gallery, Melbourne.

Links: Website (https://www.julierrap.com/) | Instagram (www.instagram.com/julierrap/)

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