Con-struction by Alex Maeve Campbell
- Laura Thipphawong
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
Based in North Bay, ON, Canada
Con-struction, Mixed Media, 2023, 12"x12"
Con-struction is the last work created in a series I entitled “The Cautionary Tales”. In this series, my use of collage has been a conscious re-contextualization of print media representations of gender, using shadows/silhouettes of 1940s-50s-style pin-ups in combination with the language of caution signs, in order to create pieces that engage viewers on multiple levels. They depict falling, drowning, dying, being in
danger and being in pain. They do not exist to comfort but to confront.
It's no big revelation to say that women are still being faced with sexist representations of femininity, but I do think it's necessary to say so. Because we're still being forced to look. Mainstream objectification abounds; violence against women, particularly in marginalized populations, is still unrecognized and under-reported; mental illness, although less stigmatized than in the past, is not normalized either. The celebration of a certain type of woman conveys what it takes to be beautiful, successful, meaningful, loved, alive. And then, there are parallel warning signs that seem to say, go your own way, and we can't, or
won't, be responsible for what happens.
Con-struction takes the pin-up silhouette to a new, final level, because it deconstructs it. The figure is like a perfect, broken doll. Not only is the “con” of the ideal body being taken apart, but the job of what it is specifically to survive as a woman is questioned. Because, even in 2025, things are still getting buried, literally and figuratively. We all negotiate with the shadow of real danger. Even if you follow the so-called rules, there is no guarantee of health, happiness, or survival.
I do like to think that, ultimately, pieces like Con-struction from "The Cautionary Tales" series ask what it might take for us to be able to rise up, save ourselves, and live to tell our stories with both humour and vitriol. In a world where nothing is incorruptible and the deck is stacked, this work examines the act of taking it all apart and putting it back together with the notion of laughter as a triumph in the face of peril, pitfalls, and vulnerability.
