Annabelle Collett, Iron maiden corset, 2003, laser cut mild steel, rusted, 115 x 70 cm

United notions is a vibrant group show of thirty-nine works by Annabelle Collett and six collaborating artists exploring seemly diverse themes of camouflage, ritual, comfort and difference. It is a lively exhibition, well hung in a number of theatrical alcoves and features some wonderful pieces.

Jennifer Layther's large ceramic urn My project 2000-2003, stands at the exhibition’s entrance. It is commercial urn lined inside and out with special shards of cracked and damaged pottery, china and found objects belonging to the artist and friends. The accompanying text panel informs viewers that all the pieces of broken china and pottery hold a special place in the owners’ affections and that spirit infuses the newly formed object. The urn set on a mirrored stand seems to have taken on a new life from old; it is masterful and possibly the highpoint of the exhibition. Layther’s low relief mosaic wall tiles are equally refreshing. Once again she has combined shards of china and pottery with found objects including cheap china figurines to form a series of light-hearted reliefs including cowboy Roy, Pip and Dante.

Another space within the exhibition is a fabric ‘hallway’ created through a series of suspended fabric swatches. A series of Dolly Varden doilies of faceless women point to how historical pieces of embroidery are rarely attributed to the maker. This series, ironically titled ‘Idle hands’, is an acerbic prelude to the contemporary fabric swatches which address a range of issues. Annabelle Collett’s Current depicts the River Murray and environs on pale blue voile meandering over the land. The beautifully beaded and embroidered thread on voile looks ephemeral and points to the fragile ecosystem the river occupies in the landscape. Its title Current cleverly gestures towards the river’s flow, or lack of, in its lower reaches of southern Australia.

Deborah Lesser's fabric pieces are delightful. Her 'stealth' fabric swatch explores the theme of camouflage which underpins a number of fabric pieces. In Lesser’s hands, some magic is wrought and the brown, black and grey tones of tulle, silk georgette and silk devore become the slinky, hazy skin of a reptile hiding in bushes. Julie Walker’s 'filter' fabric swatch, also hanging in the fabric hallway, continues the theme of found objects undergoing transformation. Walker has embedded filter pads from a clothes dryer into a length of black tulle to create a filmy floating screen. The mundane becomes ethereal.

Other works in the exhibition play on notions of ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ beliefs and behaviour. For instance while Simon O’Mallon’s politically correct but dysfunctional shoes, John Howard's shoes for reconciliation, point to the total lack of progress on this front—two shoes are still two shoes even if connected at the heel—there is also a delightful and politically incorrect smoking jacket on display. Smoking ensembl is made from tobacco pouches carefully collected by a smoker Nikk Banner, and sewn together by Annabelle Collett; the repeated pattern of the pouches gives the work a zany strength. It is carefully suspended over a ground piece of beer bottle tops. The smoking jacket is a classic symbol of aristocratic and sophisticated manly leisure and it was integral part of Victorian and Edwardian England. It style is derived from the dress of ‘the Orient’ whose culture was selectively claimed by Britain during its Empire days. In this context, though, the Smoking ensemble adds a postcolonial touch of masculinity re-instated in a nation also reclaimed.

Other works in the exhibition take on a surreal character. Lace, based on Battenburg lace, is shown not as a soft pliable crocheted collar to fit snugly around a human neck, but as a laser cut and severe flat aluminium form. Its shape is pleasing, but in becoming a non-functional object, it has lost its charm. A similar element of surprise underpins Iron maiden corset, the corset shape is splayed out to form a hard iron object, but while surprise sustains Lace, a ghoulish horror overtakes the iron maiden. It seems the iron maiden is historically accurate and iron corsets were reputedly worn by Catherine de Medici. The sheer cruelty conveyed by this exhibit, with its iron cage encircling the ribs and breasts, drowns any sense of the surreal evoked by marvellous which in Lautreamont words is ‘as beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella’. Beauty can indeed be replaced by horror.

Collecting can be taken to extremes and this exhibition finds an outlet for some of the more bizarre. The classic surreal object, Man Ray’s Gift (1921), an iron rendered an anti-iron with its line of spiky nails adhering to its smooth surface, has a new-found cousin in this exhibition. This is a pair of thongs, a Bed of nails thongs, whose inner sole is lined with tough, spiky nail clippings made from finger and toe nail clippings collected by six avid collectors, including two of the artists in the show. Does this suggest an ancient form of torture? Another exhibit is made from Annabelle Collett’s hair collected over thirteen years and then crocheted delicately into a Dilly bag and slippers. Recycled human debris certainly adds a quirky element to this exhibition!

The post-modern penchant for recycling everyday objects informs Lullaby, a large quilt crocheted over five years from cassette tapes. While reminiscent of Fiona Hall’s blanket knitted from videotape in Give a dog a bone (1995), Collett's blanket with its subtle tonal variation takes on the look of chain mail. This metallic appearance cleverly underpins the lack of comfort the pillow or blanket could give its would-be sleeper.

All the mock trappings of military pageantry are found in Trooping the colours, a jacket light-heartedly jesting at the practice of full military dress worn for parades, ceremonies and so on. The red jacket, with piping and epaulettes is covered liberally with hand-made medals, buttons and badges that carry text like ‘blood and guts’ and ‘land of heroes’. In contrast to ceramicist Olive Bishop’s cutting 1978 series Wash and war, generals, Collett's interest is less a critique of the military and more an exploration of ceremonial dress. She feels men actually like the display. Similarly, Formal wear (Men's and Buey's), an oversize felt dinner jacket with tails stretching four and half metres long overtly references Joseph Buey’s felt suit of 1970, but it transcends Bueys’s obsession with felt to probe men’s dress. Do they look handsome or foolish in tails?

There are many issues tackled in this invigorating exhibition—perhaps too many—but with some parring down, Collett the artist and Collett the coordinating artist/curator is heading in interesting directions. Her challenge is to narrow the focus. Men’s dress, for one, calls for an undress!