Nell Bradbury

Bachelor of Creative Arts, Bendigo

Tango. Sierra. Echo. consists of multiple pieces of works that span around the theme of the military. The position I am currently in with my partner being away on deployment is the foundation of my research and the creative outcomes. However, throughout this, I have noticed that it isn’t just about myself.

Continuing my initial introspective investigation, the large-scale self-portrait painting addresses the state of going through deployment without being the one physically on deployment: the waiting, the emotions associated with missing your partner and the fear and anxieties of the unknown. I am confronted with how to maintain my individual self, having to face civilian challenges, and re-adjusting a routine to make it easier and more tolerable. My practice also comments on the roles of women within military relationships and recognises the ensuing hardships of such a position.

I use embroidery and cotton napkins to document archival images from three specific war periods - WWI, WWII and the Vietnam War. These materials and methods manifest traditional expectations of the woman. However, Tango. Sierra. Echo. confronts these ideas of patience, silence, and domestication by having them on an abstracted stained background and sitting alongside the portraits. The work seeks to reclaim the feminine, against patriarchal values that undermine the female body and domestic space.

Image gallery