I Was Acceptable in the 80’s
PhD Pop-up as part of the University of Dundee’s Masters Show 2026
Having started my PhD in January 2026 I identified that the University did not provide opportunity for practice led PhD’s to Exhibit their work. I therefore put a proposal for a PhD Pop-up to the Executive team which was accepted. 12 fellow PhD Candidates opted to exhibit their work in progress led by a small curating team.
My current enquiry The Ghosting of Midlife Women in Art and Culture. Menopause. Misogyny. Missed Opportunity started as an undergraduate and continues to drive my work today. The following questions form the basis of the work I share in this Pop-up:
Why is it that images of middle age/ageing women are only acceptable if we are deemed to be ‘aging well’? Why is our culture so obsessed with youth? Why are the lines on my face seen as failure? Why is it that some women seem to get stuck in menopause – in a liminal space, betwixt and between, feeling lost, abandoned and invisible and why does society treat them so? Why does our culture deem that ‘women of a certain age’ are no longer fuckable and feminine and why does the loss of fertility matter so much? Why was my vagina until relatively recently considered ‘senile’ and how does historical medical misogyny impact me today? How do artists respond to this transitionary state, navigating it in the artist studio with the work they make whilst facing the challenges of mid-life and menopause? How as an artist do I respond, how does it make me feel and what can I do to change and shape the narrative?
A way not to be invisible is to be proactively visible – it’s about defiance. My writing and art fill a gap. When was the last time you saw artwork dedicated to the issues faced by midlife women? What I am driven to make is symbolic and is the start of an iterative process – call it work in progress, after all is that not what life is all about? My ambition during my PhD is to create a cohesive body of work that can be exhibited at the conclusion of my research.
