Because my project speaks about crafts in the community, looking at pictures that depict this gives me a very overwhelming feeling, because not only this makes you feel like you have a place, validating you, but the intricacies of the crafts make you involve much more into producing as well.
Abramovic and Ulay engaged in interactive performances for a very long time, and as Marina said, is an art made of trust, vulnerability and connection. Their knotted hair embodies the idea of connecting, being one, resembling Tunga's piece.
The idea of knots makes me think of being "tied" together, being part of something bigger: the idea of BELONGING.
MRINALINI MUKHERJEE KNITTED ROPES
As a sculptor, Mukherjee rejected conventional materials and techniques, so she began working with hemp rope. By weaving and knotting, she created complex shapes which resemble flowers or human body shapes. Even though she "doesn't like analysing her feelings during the work process", she has very rich folkloric, traditional references tied to her work. She was one of a number of women whose work established that textiles, which were traditionally associated with crafts, could be just as important as the materials conventionally used in fine art.
What I really loved about placing the objects around at Barbican is that I was able to see them out of their purposeful context, and perhaps I was capable of brainstorming some new ones. Because all of the objects I had contained/were made out of plastic, and because I decided to play with them outside, the contrast between the natural, self-protective world and man-made, destructive one was very evident, but in a certain manner, they were blending together in a way that it made sense: maybe because we are so used to seeing these two together so often, one destroying the other.
The bold citron yellow comes up much brighter when seen next to a neutral colour, which makes me think of using yellow as a primary component for my colour palette.
Seeing how the lemon plastic packaging changes it's shape, becoming very fluid on the plants made me think a bit more of how I could reproduce this movement through mark-making. Moreover, the contrast between the plastic, man-made fractal texture next to the natural, organic plant textures makes me more aware of the similarities between them, such as pattern repetition.
As a surface, I Chose to use IKEA bags as well as transparent plastic bags/food packaging. I really loved the weave texture of the IKEA bags, as well as the transparency of the plastic bags, as they would allow me to experiment more with colour rather than letting them dictate my palette.
FOUND OBJECTS | LEMON/GARLIC PACKAGING FROM HOME
The net-looking texture really inspired me, as I found it super interesting how the plastic packaging takes the shape of the objects it's covering, giving it a tactical feeling.
FOUND OBJECTS | HEADPHONES
While looking around for more objects, I found some more cables at the North London Hospice in Turnpike Lane.
Loved to see how others from across the world apply traditional crafts on polluting, new materials, creating innovative ways to reuse them. This was my main focus for the project: merging the old techniques with the new wave of polluting materials to find a balance between them, and to give them a new life.
HANDS
In this context (and perhaps all others) hands are the symbol of it all: because we use them to create new things, we use them to gesticulate our emotions, but most importantly, we use them to physically connect to each other.
Since the early 1970s, Marina Abramović has been pushing past perceived limits of the body and mind, and exploring the complex relationship between artist and audience, through performances that challenge both herself and, in many instances, participants emotionally, intellectually, and physically.
In 2010 at MoMA, Abramović engaged in the extended performance called, "The Artist Is Present". The work was inspired by her belief that stretching the length of a performance beyond expectations serves to alter our perception of time and foster a deeper engagement in the experience. Seated silently at a wooden table across from an empty chair, she waited as people took turns sitting in the chair and locking eyes with her.
“Nobody could imagine…that anybody would take time to sit and just engage in mutual gaze with me,” Abramović explained. In fact, the chair was always occupied, and there were continuous lines of people waiting to sit in it. “It was a complete surprise…this enormous need of humans to actually have contact.”
Her conclusion of how people need to have contact sums up my idea of the need to belong in a community: not only that it makes you interact with others, but you become one of them; or the same person as them. Her performances infulence me in realising how important it is to not feel alone, and to accept that loneliness does not exist.
Tunga explores the transformation of materials and the magical properties of hair. Specifically the form of the braid, it is a recurring symbol across much of his work. Capillary Conjoined Twins Among Us describes a variety of unusual occurrences that he experienced or encountered in newspapers and scientific articles. In particular, Tunga relates the myth of twin Nordic girls connected by the hair. Their existence caused discomfort and conflict in their village. Even so, I believe that their bond was even more stronger and "tied together" by their knotted locks, which created a crossing bridge between them; perhaps, A CONSTANT CONVERSATION.
"Beginning in 1964, Ana Lupas oversaw the creation of large straw structures in villages in Transylvania. She enlisted the help of villagers who used weaving techniques traditionally employed to make wreaths for harvest festivals. Lupas originally saw the artwork as the communal act of making and displaying these objects in the local area." The fact that Lupas engaged with the community made me think that she had the feeling that she belongs there, and somehow the collective craft connected her to her Transylvanian community, but most important, with herself. Moreover, the fact that they used traditional weaving techniques dictated the path for my project: depicting the idea of belonging in a community through craftsmanship, using multiple traditional techniques such as crochet or weaving.
"Lupas tried different ways to preserve them, first by restoring the original wreaths, then by drawing them, making more than 200 drawings. Eventually, in the early 2000s, she developed the technique of sealing them in metal ‘tins’. This solution satisfied the artist as a practical means of preservation and a way of combining the natural and traditional ‘wreaths of wheat’ with modern, industrial associations through the metal casing."
The way that Lupas preserved the structures in metal casts reminds me a lot of the cables and headphones, as they are made out of plastic, and it's pretty much like they have a forever lasting cast that keeps them together, as the metal casts keep the straw structures (and the community crafts & traditions) alive.
The shoe last next to BRINCO Room (@Tate), the shie prototype made for Mexican refugees. The strong blue background made me realise how well the blue IKEA bags would work with the citron yellow of the lasts.
SANTI WANGCHUAN | WEAVING WITH PERSONAL ITEMS
The cables weave made me think about knitting and weaving in 2 different ways: the technical, mechanical part, and the conceptualisation of it. In my mind, there was this idea that belonging to something is very similar to knitting: if you loose one thread, the knitted fabric would still be there, but it wouldn't be as well put together as it would've been If that one thread was still there. Santi Wangchuan was super inspiring in this way, as his practice centres around weaving with personal belongings. "Wangchuan weaves together intimate memories and relationships, harmonizing items such as personal belongings and remnants of clothes that once belonged to his family members. Detailed and complex, his abstract work symbolizes his intimate affection and warmth towards his family, and serves as a long-lasting remembrance for loved ones he has lost. The various colourful weaving patterns and independent shapes that he creates highlight societal metamorphosis, folk wisdom and beliefs, as he continues the conservation of his culture."
Weaving the fluid, malleable cables on the rigid, concrete bench created this clear contrast in my mind: PERSONAL/NON PERSONAL. Things such as headphones are something lifeless, a very basic object, but used constantly in everyday life, an object that connects us to sounds such as music, or the voice of someone dear, and at the end of the day, they are a more personal object than a lot of other very obvious ones. Also, this connection gives some sort of a feeling of belonging to something: to a state of mind, to a group of people, to a family or to something even bigger.
FOUND OBJECTS | SHOE LASTS
In terms of interesting shape, I found these amazing stiletto shoes lasts at the Princess May Road Car Boot Sale.
The objects I found with good linking qualities are old cables and headphones, as we I thought we all have them laying around the house; after I found one or two in my house, I asked more people for some.
Bibliography
- personal pictures
- www.moma.org
- www.tate.org.uk
- www.yeoworkshop.com
- www.youtube.com
- Tate Modern
- Portraits in the presence of Marina Abramović by
- by