The Huxleys are the recipients of the 2023 Wai Tang Commissioning award and will present a new body of work during the 2024 Bowness Photography Prize exhibition season. They responded to the commission with a new body of work that has all the hallmarks of the humour, wit and outrageousness we know and love them for.
The Huxleys | Bad sports reflects upon the ostracisation you can feel when growing up in a country that values sporting achievement above all else. It can be a real struggle especially for a creative, shy queer kid searching for kindred spirits. A love of music, art, fashion and the dark underworld is perceived to offer eventual artistic salvation.
Bad sports seeks to capture the alienation, humour and abstraction that the Huxleys experienced growing up in this sunburnt country, from the larrikins looking for a fair go, a guernsey and a winning streak. For the uncoordinated and uncooperative queer prisoner, the struggle is real.
Thrust into the ferocious floodlights of the playing field, Bad sports becomes a performative way for queer people at odds with sports to feel like they can ‘play’ figuratively, creatively and physically. To allow the ridiculous feats of fashions on the field to harmonise with The Huxleys' gloriously ‘bent’ vision of the world. The Dadaist notion in full athletic prowess; a giant sequinned ball lunges for the ball in play. Art imitating sport: finally at peace with one another.
Curator: MAPh Director, Anouska Phizacklea
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The Wai Tang Commissioning Award is supported by:
Kee Wong and Stacey Wang
MAPh Foundation
