IMPORTANT NOTICE : The site will be affected by essential maintenance on Thursday 5th August 2021. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.
  • The Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Training
  • Resources
  • Join
  • Hubs
  • Artist development
  • News & Events
  • Support us
  • Shop
easy read Accessibility Log in
  • Outside In
  • The Artists
  • Exhibitions
  • Training
  • Resources
  • Join
  • Hubs
  • Artist development
  • News & Events
  • Support us
  • Shop
  • Menu

Artwork

White Trash #1

Buy this artwork

By Julia Fry

Width: 30.48Height: 30.48

From the artist:

I found a baby’s sock on my balcony and immediately thought of sewing it to a canvas and painting over it. I washed the sock and made up a canvas. It took me a while of playing with the shape of the sock before settling on the final shape and I sewed it to the canvas. I amended its position because it was too stretched out and was making the canvas bulge in places. You can see the thread I left in the old place. I attached an empty contact lens case to the canvas. I gave the canvas and everything on it three coats of Gesso primer. I mixed gloss gel medium with Titanium White and gave the sock a couple of coats. I wanted it to be shiny.

During the process of making this painting, I was thinking a lot about #blacklivesmatter and in the evenings I found myself reading up on anti-racism and taking action where I could. I assumed I was highly privileged because I’m white, have a university education and don’t suffer micro aggressions or violence or fear murder because of the colour of my skin. Then I took a privilege test, thinking I’d score high, and it came out at 39 out of 100 and told me:

You are not privileged at all. You grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let you forget it. You’ve had your fair share of struggles, and you’ve worked hard to overcome them. We do not live in an ideal world and you had to learn that the hard way. It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead.

Reading that made me face the fact that I’d been trying to make my childhood and me ‘okay’ by doing things like educating myself and trying to be a middle class person, which looked ‘normal’ to me when I was growing up. I desperately wanted to be ‘normal’ and not abused, bisexual, poor, working class, female… It’s taken me 49 years to stop running from those things. As a teenager, when I got a job and had my own money I bought Vogue and stuck advertising images by Rolex and Christian Dior on my wall. I thought if I could have those things THEN I’d be okay. Of course, that’s not true and I couldn’t see the context of the patriarchy then. All I could see was I was not okay and I wanted to be okay. So now, I accept those things and that the patriarchy and its symptom, neoliberal capitalism, has terms like ‘social advantage’, as if being in society is a race or a game. And I accept that given my ‘disadvantages’ in this race or game, I am white trash. I own it. It’s nice to stop running and see clearly.

I was also thinking about single use plastic. That’s why I included my contact lens case in the painting. I have loads of these. I’ve been collecting them for years and now it’s time to play with them and make something of them. So, I think the painting looks like a fish diving and coming across something that looks like it might be food. But it’s not. It’s plastic and toxic. A symptom of capitalism and, therefore, the patriarchy.

Finally, the white paint symbolises how we can gloss over things in order to stay in denial, which is a form of weird happiness. The rich white people who ‘own’ the world seemingly cannot see that carrying on exploitation of people and our Earth will result in all of us, including them, not being able to live here.

Each coat of white primer took about 45 minutes because of the nooks and crannies of the sock. Each coat of White Titanium on the sock took about 30 minutes.

Mixed media Painting Sculpture abstract art antiracism found object white painting
Zoom in
‹ ›
‹

White Trash #1

By Julia Fry

I found a baby’s sock on my balcony and immediately thought of sewing it to a canvas and painting over it. I washed the sock and made up a canvas. It took me a while of playing with the shape of the sock before settling on the final shape and I sewed it to the canvas. I amended its position because it was too stretched out and was making the canvas bulge in places. You can see the thread I left in the old place. I attached an empty contact lens case to the canvas. I gave the canvas and everything on it three coats of Gesso primer. I mixed gloss gel medium with Titanium White and gave the sock a couple of coats. I wanted it to be shiny. During the process of making this painting, I was thinking a lot about #blacklivesmatter and in the evenings I found myself reading up on anti-racism and taking action where I could. I assumed I was highly privileged because I’m white, have a university education and don’t suffer micro aggressions or violence or fear murder because of the colour of my skin. Then I took a privilege test, thinking I’d score high, and it came out at 39 out of 100 and told me: You are not privileged at all. You grew up with an intersectional, complicated identity, and life never let you forget it. You’ve had your fair share of struggles, and you’ve worked hard to overcome them. We do not live in an ideal world and you had to learn that the hard way. It is not your responsibility to educate those with more advantages than you, but if you decide you want to, go ahead. Reading that made me face the fact that I’d been trying to make my childhood and me ‘okay’ by doing things like educating myself and trying to be a middle class person, which looked ‘normal’ to me when I was growing up. I desperately wanted to be ‘normal’ and not abused, bisexual, poor, working class, female… It’s taken me 49 years to stop running from those things. As a teenager, when I got a job and had my own money I bought Vogue and stuck advertising images by Rolex and Christian Dior on my wall. I thought if I could have those things THEN I’d be okay. Of course, that’s not true and I couldn’t see the context of the patriarchy then. All I could see was I was not okay and I wanted to be okay. So now, I accept those things and that the patriarchy and its symptom, neoliberal capitalism, has terms like ‘social advantage’, as if being in society is a race or a game. And I accept that given my ‘disadvantages’ in this race or game, I am white trash. I own it. It’s nice to stop running and see clearly. I was also thinking about single use plastic. That’s why I included my contact lens case in the painting. I have loads of these. I’ve been collecting them for years and now it’s time to play with them and make something of them. So, I think the painting looks like a fish diving and coming across something that looks like it might be food. But it’s not. It’s plastic and toxic. A symptom of capitalism and, therefore, the patriarchy. Finally, the white paint symbolises how we can gloss over things in order to stay in denial, which is a form of weird happiness. The rich white people who ‘own’ the world seemingly cannot see that carrying on exploitation of people and our Earth will result in all of us, including them, not being able to live here. Each coat of white primer took about 45 minutes because of the nooks and crannies of the sock. Each coat of White Titanium on the sock took about 30 minutes.

Mixed media Painting Sculpture abstract art antiracism found object white painting
›
It’s Okay to Look (2020) by Julia Fry
Autumn / Winter Light (2020) by Julia Fry
Square Dots #4 by Julia Fry
Despair by Julia Fry
Wooden Heart by Julia Fry
Weird Fish by Julia Fry
Puddy Tat by Julia Fry
Square Dots #1 by Julia Fry
Seminal (2018) by Julia Fry
Insight (2018) by Julia Fry
Sunset Teardrop by Julia Fry
Constellation (2009) by Julia Fry
Reeds (2020) by Julia Fry
Triangle Lines and Sunlit Patches (2020) by Julia Fry
White Trash #1 by Julia Fry
Cruel Britannia by Julia Fry
Spring Wonderland by Julia Fry
Forming and Unforming by Julia Fry
Legal High (2011) by Julia Fry
Perceiving (2017) by Julia Fry
Rainbow (2016) by Julia Fry
Mind (2016) by Julia Fry
Protection (2016) by Julia Fry
Trees (2017) by Julia Fry
City (2017) by Julia Fry
Untitled (2017) by Julia Fry
Safety (2017) by Julia Fry

What do you think about this artwork? Guidelines for commenting Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Buy this artwork

£ 283.33

The postage and packaging fee is dependent on the location of the buyer, please contact us for a quote.

Buying work via Outside In greatly increases the confidence and self-esteem of the artists who choose to align themselves with the project, often encouraging them to carry on creating work. Outside In takes a small commission, which is put straight back into the project, ensuring we are able to continue to support those facing barriers to the art world.

Call Cornelia Marland on
01273 381 311
+44 1273 381 311 from overseas
or send an email

  • Accessibility
  • About
  • Contact
  • Trustees and the board
  • Funders and supporters
  • Press
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and conditions
Arts Council England
Paul Hamlyn Foundation
John Ellerman Foundation
George Dannatt Trust
Garfield Weston Foundation
Art Fund
The Roddick Foundation
Investec
Linbury Trust

© 2023 Outside In.

Outside In is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation Registered Charity Number 1171128.

Outside In, PO BOX 810, Chichester PO19 9WF

Tel: 01903 898171

Our social media pages:

  Twitter     Facebook     Instagram

Website by Surface Impression

easy read

These options can change the way this website looks, which may help you to use it more easily.

Further information about accessibility can be found on our Accessibility page and our Accessbility statement.

Accessibility options

  • Display contrast
  • Text options

Standard contrast

Low contrast

High contrast

Standard text

Large text

Extra large text

  Artist log in

Forgotten your password?

Not a member?   Sign up

Subscribe to the Outside In newsletter

* indicates required
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptReject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT