2025 AIR x Seventh Gallery Resident - Kate Just: CONSTRUCTION/WORK
Kate Just exhibition ‘CONSTRUCTION/WORK’
9 July to 16 August 2025
Seventh Gallery
215 Church Street Richmond VIC 3120
Open Wed to Saturday 12-6
Opening Event: Wed 9 July 6-8pm
Seventh Gallery and Women’s Art Register Artist in Residence are pleased to present an exhibition of works by established artist Kate Just entitled CONSTRUCTION/WORK. The exhibition is inspired by Just’s recent stint as an artist in residence with Seventh and W.A.R.
For the residency and project at W.A.R., Kate undertook many visits to the W.A.R. archives and examined examples of political text across books, files, magazines and artworks. During her research, Kate came upon an advertisement for a curated performance exhibition at George Paton Gallery in 1980 called Women at Work, which inspired her exhibition. The advertisement featured a hand drawn yellow and black sign with the bold text WOMEN AT WORK riffing off ‘MEN AT WORK’ construction signs.
Kate expanded upon on the idea of construction work as a parallel metaphor for feminism as something hands on, focussed on process, progress, and the active reshaping, reforming, and improving of social structures. Just’s installation at Seventh gallery presents the results: a series of eight industrially produced construction and road safety signs inscribed with political messages. Text across the signs include ‘Rough Road Ahead,’ ‘Danger: Freedom of Expression Under Threat,’ ‘Protect Trans Lives’ and ‘Intersectional.’ Large text-based hanging machine knitted blankets bear the repeated words ‘CONSTRUCTION’ and ‘WORK WORK WORK,’ referencing the ongoing work required of feminism and the political activism.
Two hand-knitted panels bearing the words ‘Women at Work’ and ‘Women’s Work’ play on stereotypical conceptions of gendered labour. A green and white sweater bearing the text KEEP YOUR LAWS OFF MY BODY spins in the space. Produced by Just in 2022 in response to the overturning of Roe V. Wade, the garment makes its debut in an exhibition space and flags the continuing human rights infringements by the US government.
Reflecting on the residency and exhibition works, Just reflects, ‘These are stifling and inhumane times. The show springboards from a text in the archive, but hopes to highlights the ongoing active and constructive work artists and activists can do to reshape our social and political landscape.’
Kate Just is a queer, feminist artist of Polish, Irish, German and Scottish descent (born USA, migrated to Australia 1996) best known for her inventive and political use of knitting. In addition to her solo practice, Just often works socially and collaboratively within communities to create large scale, public or textile-based art projects that tackle significant social issues including gender-based violence, reproductive freedom, LGBTQIA rights and political protest. Kate Just holds a PhD in Sculpture (Monash University), an MA (RMIT), and a BFA from VCA. She has exhibited extensively across Australia including at the NGA, ACCA, Heide, Gertrude Contemporary and CCP.
Internationally she has exhibited at AIR Gallery (New York, USA), ICA (Richmond, Virginia, USA), the Rijswijk Museum (the Netherlands), Auckland Art Fair (NZ), Kunsthalle Krems (Austria), Sanskriti Gallery (India), Youkobo Artspace (Japan), Contextile Biennale (Portugal) and SUWON Museum of Art (South Korea).
The Women’s Art Register (WAR) is Australia’s living archive of women’s art practice, physically based in the Richmond Library. WAR is a not-for-profit, artist-run community and resource, with an open and inclusive policy of collecting items from all artists who identify as women (cis and trans inclusive) or gender diverse. Seventh is a non-profit project space based in Richmond, mostly run by artists, for artists. Through a variety of program initiatives, Seventh provides a platform for emerging and underrepresented practitioners to test new ideas through provocation, dialogue and critical engagement. Seventh has and continues to be a space where many artists have their first show, and is dedicated to supporting culturally diverse voices.
The Seventh Gallery and Women’s Art Register Artist in Residence program was supported by the City of Yarra.
