Dear Women…

Dear Women: An Evening of Art, Story and Coming Home

There are some ideas that begin as a quiet little thought.

And then there are ideas that completely take over your life, have you building giant interactive art installations at ridiculous hours, calling your husband to ask what glue you need to stick pool noodles to PVC piping (huh? That’s exactly what he said), writing songs, hanging artwork, buying $80 worth of the wrong Polaroid film and wondering at several points whether you have, in fact, lost your mind.

Dear Women was the latter.

But on Saturday evening, as more than 60 people walked through the doors, stood in front of the artwork, pulled threads across a board, left words on a wall, listened, laughed, cried and connected—I got to see the idea come alive.

And it was more beautiful than I imagined.

Five women. Five voices. Five completely different ways of telling a story.

Dear Women brought together five female artists, each working in a completely different medium.

Bronte Congreve, from the Mornington Peninsula, filled her wall with bold, unapologetic acrylic works on canvas. Her use of vibrant colour and the female form brought an incredible energy into the exhibition. You can contact Bronte about purchasing her work through her instagram https://www.instagram.com/bybrontec/

Vanessa Beauchamp, a Limestone Coast local and author of Mistress of Flow, created an immersive exhibit using excerpts from her writing printed on cardstock. Her space invited women to consider the seasons and cycles of their own lives. At the centre was an interactive wheel where women could align the moon, seasons and their own cycle—a concept Vanessa explores more deeply within her book. You can purchase you copy here https://vanessabeauchamp.com —she is offering both a physical book and an Ebook.

Vanessa also shared a reading from Mistress of Flow during the evening, bringing her written words off the page and into the room.

Rebecca Grace, also from the Limestone Coast, exhibited her acrylic works and created a beautiful intuitive card experience. Women were invited to trust their instinct, choose the card they felt drawn to and receive the message waiting for them. You can contact Rebecca about purchasing her work through her instagram https://www.instagram.com/designinggrace111/ or through facebook https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.haggett.5

Mardi Goodes shared her ceramic work, including Broken Vessel / Bent Not Broken—a piece exploring the sacred nature of womanhood and the invisible weight carried through the many seasons of a woman’s life. Broken branches, carefully bound and held within a handmade vessel, became a quiet reflection of fracture, endurance and the ways women continue to carry, give and hold. Mardi also provided a lot of our beautiful grazing table ceramics. You can contact Mardi about purchasing through her instagram page https://www.instagram.com/mardi_goodes/

And then there was me—Amanda Keck—sharing graphite works on cardstock.

My work explored the things we don’t always say aloud.

Motherhood. Identity. Bodies. Pain. Survival. Self-doubt. Ageing. The weight we carry. The parts of ourselves we abandon and the strange, slow process of finding our way back.

It was deeply personal.

And perhaps that was the point.

This was never meant to be an exhibition you simply looked at.

I wanted women to participate.

To leave something behind.

To take something with them.

The string installation invited women to choose something they wanted to release—guilt, self-doubt, comparison, perfectionism or fear—and then choose what they wanted to receive: trust, peace, joy, rest or love.

By the end of the evening, the threads crossed and tangled over one another.

No two journeys were the same.

And yet, somehow, they all intersected.

On another wall, women were invited to write words for other women.

Messages appeared slowly throughout the night.

“You have a voice.”

“You don’t have to hide the corners at all.”

“You are stronger than fear.”

“Be brave and open to all possibilities.”

“You don’t have to be perfect to be loved.”

Words from strangers to strangers.

Women speaking into the lives of women they may never meet.

There were bookmarks, intuitive cards and fortune cookies gifted by the artists—small pieces of the evening that could be carried home in pockets and handbags.

And then there was my Polaroid wall.

Ah yes.

The Polaroid wall.

I had this fabulous idea to photograph every woman who attended, ask her to write one word underneath describing herself and create an entire wall of beautiful, powerful women.

It was going to be magnificent.

Except I bought $80 worth of THE WRONG FILM (insert face five).

So.

The wall of powerful women remains, for now, a powerful idea. (Although i did manage 10 photos, which consisted of the 5 artists, 4 attendees and one of my husband and his friend…haha

We move on. 😂

And then there was music.

During the evening I performed an original song, “The Way She Walks” written specifically for this event.

Writing it was one thing.

Standing in a room surrounded by women, artwork and stories and singing it aloud was something entirely different.

And somehow the evening became even more special when my two best friends joined me to sing “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac.

Bronte had come to not only experience the evening, but also share a wall of her beautiful art with me.

My other friend, Cle, surprised me by walking through the doors with her beautiful baby boy.

There are moments where language feels slightly useless.

That was one of them.

To stand between these two beautiful sisters and incredible women who have walked beside me through so many versions of myself and sing together in a room built around the stories of women…

Yeah.

That one will stay with me.

It took a village of absolute goddesses.

Mardi completely rocked the bar.

Bronte, Bec and Vanessa worked the room like the absolute goddesses they are—talking with guests, sharing their work and helping women engage with the exhibition.

My beautiful friend Cle captured footage throughout the night, preserving the movement and little moments happening everywhere.

And we were incredibly blessed to have Louise Agnew, perform her sorcery and capture the evening through her lens. You can find her work here https://www.louiseagnewphotography.com or give her a follow here https://www.instagram.com/louiseagnew/

There is something very special about having someone document a night like this. Because when you’re the person behind the event, you’re everywhere and nowhere all at once.

You’re answering a question.

Finding something.

Checking something.

Singing a song.

Realising you bought the wrong bloody film.

And suddenly the night is over.

Louise gave us the gift of seeing it.

Dear Women…

More than 60 people came through the doors.

But numbers aren’t really what I’ll remember.

I’ll remember women standing quietly in front of artwork.

I’ll remember conversations between people who hadn’t met before.

I’ll remember the string board slowly becoming tangled.

I’ll remember words appearing across the black wall.

I’ll remember Vanessa reading her words aloud.

I’ll remember singing.

I’ll remember my best friends beside me.

I’ll remember watching five completely different artists bring five completely different perspectives into one space—and somehow watching it all belong together.

Dear Women was never about having one story of womanhood.

It was about making room for many.

The loud ones.

The quiet ones.

The painful ones.

The beautiful ones.

The unfinished ones.

The stories carried in our bodies.

The stories we’ve spoken.

And the ones we’re still finding words for.

To every person who came, participated, stood in front of the work, wrote on the wall, chose a thread, listened to a song, shared a conversation or simply allowed themselves to feel something—

thank you.

You brought Dear Women to life.

And I have a feeling…

this might only be the beginning.

But for now, THATS A WRAP!

With love,
Amanda x