Parallel Park — Sarah Thomson

Parallel Park, Tandem (2016), digital photograph. Image courtesy the artists.

Parallel Park, Mission Surge (2018), documentation of performance as part of Performance in Progress at West Space, Melbourne, 2018. Image courtesy the artists.

Essay published in un Magazine Issue 12.2.

Parallel Park was borne out of a desire to explore the shared experience of being in a serious queer relationship for the first time. It is the collaborative practice of Holly Bates and Tayla Jay Haggarty, two Brisbane-based artists who met while studying visual art at the Queensland University of Technology. Since 2015 the duo has made work together that explores both the external factors that impact their queer relationship, like stereotyping and objectification, as well as the internal intricacies of being a romantic couple. Parallel Park’s practice spans performance, installation, sculpture and video; they use a playful, humorous approach to analyse their own relationship dynamics and the nature of artistic collaboration.

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