MELANIE BOOTH

You’re Overreacting

What do you think this exhibition is about? You’re probably reading too much into it. 

You’re Overreacting (2021) is about gaslighting; the result of which causes you to start to doubt your own emotional responses - is this the correct way to react? Is that what I really feel? Extensive and repeated gaslighting stemming from an external source, can lead to an internalisation of the process and an automatic recurring doubt in your habitual reactions. 

Gaslighting is a psychological manipulation technique with the purpose to gain control over another person’s perception of reality. It is commonly portrayed in romantic relationships but, as I’m sure many of you have experienced, gaslighting can occur anywhere: in work environments, friendships, from the guy on the bus stop, even in the ‘news’. In the current political climate, the concept of a ‘fact’ is being brought into question; incredibly, there is still debate over whether climate change is real. It’s becoming harder to trust your instincts when you’re getting pushed and pulled from so many directions. It’s enough to make you begin to second guess your natural response to everything and to feel as if even the leaves in the trees are whispering ‘you’re probably overreacting to this’. 

I acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land on which I live and work, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I would like to pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Melanie is a multidisciplinary artist living and working on Gadigal land. Employing mediums such as embroidery and textiles, along with some video works, Melanie uses her practice to dissect prescribed social structures and to question preconceived ideas around gender, mental health and nationalism. She uses themes of the uncanny to symbolise the simultaneous feeling of comfort and trauma that one can hold in relation to the home environment. Reflective of her personality, Melanie uses humour and irony as a tool to discuss personal or challenging topics in her works. 

Melanie completed a Bachelor of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (First Class Honours) in 2018. She received The Art Scene Director’s Award for Print Media. Melanie was chosen to participate in a public art program for Lola38 West during an exchange program with Drexel University in Philadelphia. She has since exhibited in Australia, the United Kingdom and America.