ALLISON TUNIS: ACCEPTABLE BODIES
to
Alberta Craft Gallery 10186 106 St, Edmonton, Alberta T5J 1H4
Allison Tunis, "Acceptable Bodies," 2018
invitation
Artist Talk & Reception: Saturday, January 20 from 2-4pm
The need to feel beautiful and desired is universal, but the standards for how to achieve that are so restrictive that it leaves little chance for many to accomplish this feat. Allison Tunis's embroidery pieces develop a discourse around cultural conditioning and societal implications of restrictive standards of beauty. Tunis’s works feature portraits of persons who shun outdated and constricting notions of what are considered “acceptable” bodies in our society and who celebrate their differences and diversity in ways that can be considered disobedient, either actively or passively. These art pieces are a way for Tunis to explore her own internal evolution away from the traditional paradigm of thin, white, cis, able-bodied women as the epitome of beauty and sexuality, towards a more inclusive understanding of beauty and the shunning of restrictive norms and aesthetic standards.