The Just Saying Project Invites Artists to Transform Women’s Voices into Art for Behind the Figures.
The Just Saying Project (JSP) is calling on artists to be part of Behind the Figures, a selling exhibition that will open this September at JSP’s new Home of Women’s Stories in Wood Street, Mackay City Centre.
Marking ten years of community exhibitions and storytelling, Behind the Figures invites artists to respond to original body image research through visual art, turning women’s voices and lived experiences into creative interpretation.
Built from research involving 100 women, the exhibition explores the often complex and contradictory realities of body image. Early findings show that more than half of participants felt pressure from social media and advertising to look a certain way, while almost three quarters felt empowered by what their bodies had done, rather than how they looked.
The findings reveal relationships with the body shaped by culture, media, identity, safety and lived experience, opening the door for artists to explore what exists beyond the statistics.
Artists across all visual disciplines are invited to submit work inspired by the research, including painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, ceramics, digital art and mixed media.
JSP Founder Fallon Drewett said Behind the Figures represents a natural evolution for the organisation and the way women’s stories continue to be shared.
“For ten years, The Just Saying Project has created spaces for women to tell their stories. This exhibition reflects where we are growing next,” Ms Drewett said.
“We’re moving beyond storytelling alone and asking what happens when research, evidence and lived experience come together through art. Data helps us understand patterns and experiences, but it cannot always hold emotion, complexity or contradiction.”
“Some of the findings are confronting, but they are also deeply human. They show pressure, avoidance and self-criticism, but also resilience, function and a powerful sense of what the body carries us through.”
“Behind every statistic is a woman. Behind every figure is a story. We’re asking artists to step into that space and transform data into something people can see, feel and connect with.”
Ms Drewett said hosting the exhibition in JSP’s new Home of Women’s Stories marks an important milestone.
“This new space in Wood Street is about creating a place where women’s stories live, grow and are shared in different ways. It feels fitting that one of the first exhibitions in the space asks people to think differently about whose stories we see and how we tell them.”
JSP Creative Lead and Behind the Figures Curator Bree Poxon said the exhibition has also been designed to create opportunities for artists at every stage of their creative practice
“We wanted to create a gallery space that feels welcoming and accessible for artists, , whether they are the person who’s been painting for forty years and never considered exhibiting to the fifteen-year-old with a portfolio on their phone to the established artist who wants a new space to exhibit their work” Ms Poxon said.
“For some artists, this may be the first time they have had their work professionally exhibited, hung in a gallery space or shared publicly. That opportunity matters.”
“We want artists to feel there is room here for experimentation and interpretation. There is no single way to respond. One statistic, one voice or one feeling can be enough.”
The exhibition warmly encourages submissions from First Nations artists and artists from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, recognising that experiences of body image are shaped by culture, history and community.
Behind the Figures will open in September at JSP’s Home of Women’s Stories in Wood Street, Mackay City Centre.
Submissions close Friday, June 19.
For exhibition details and submissions visit:
Call for Artists: Fabulous Figures — Celebrating a Decade of Women's Bodies in Art — THE JUST SAYING PROJECT