Textiles
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Name on Stones, Name on the Sailing Ship · Adams and Eves of the World · Corded ·
Cocoon · Happiness, Happiness, Hate · Strange Fruit, Strange Fruit
This series of textile sculpture revolves around the theme of human femininity as a trait, without being exclusively about the female body and preconscious memories. I choose fabric as the main material for its close association to femininity and further enhance it with the cloth-binding technique called ‘shibori’ to create textures akin to organic membranes. Other than its resemblance to skin and organs, the way the fabric retains its folds is a parable to how our minds retain memories.
Name on Stones, Name on the Sailing Ship
Found fabric, wood, glass, iron produced in 1965, shoe-rack legs.
2017
1000 x 400 x 1350 mm
Is there a set value for a human’s life? Or it depends on which side we stand?
Konfrontasi ‘63-66’ is a historical event that is not commonly taught in Indonesian high school, or if thought is often incomplete and one-sided. Especially the case of Macdonald house bombing. It was not brought up in Indonesian schools as a terrorist activity conducted by the Republic of Indonesia Marine dispatcher, but rather it was viewed as a patriotic act. Oesman- Harun the duo mariners is honoured as a marine warship name. It shows different conditioning of the mind, and disparity in history could result in a different level of empathy given towards the causalities. Rather than looking at them as a human, we might instead view them as a necessary sacrifice.
The frame of the artwork would be shaped like an ironing board with the textured dress placed inside. On the glass top, iron would be placed on top emulating a sailing ship with its cable hanging down and tied into a noose. The blouse which would be chosen based on the victim’s photos is textured using shibori, reminiscent of burning and boiling skin. I will then attempt to iron half of the blouse back into its smooth state, which suggests an act of erasure.
Name on the Stone, Name on the Sailing Ship questions the subjectivity of history. For history is often told by the winner point of view, the factuality of it could always be adjusted to the majority taste and agenda. No nation is clean from the sin of being a perpetrator of it including mine or yours.
Adams and Eves of the World
Found cabinet, an assortment of 12 garments owned by the artist, cotton, light, wire.
2017
600 x 400 x 145 mm
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There are times where something happens to me and I feel like I have lost a rib. A feeling that I have entered an unfair trade with God.
To express this feeling, I took the story of Adam as a parable. When Adam was created, God sees that it is not good if the man is alone. God then put Adam to sleep and took his last rib and build and grant him a compatible helper and name her Eve.
This work is a make believe situation where in alternate narrative Adam is dissatisfied with what God have done. Because he is sillily attached to the small cartilaginous bone which had been forcefully taken away from him more than Eve, a conscious human that God has created from it
This artwork would take the form of a display cabinet, filled with a collection of 12 ribs from made from my clothing throughout the 20 years of my conscious life that symbolizes moments of weak faiths and struggles.
Adam didn’t have any right to protest, because none of his body nor his life is his. But as a mortal human, he can’t help but feeling that what happened to him was an injustice. And the effort to retaliate, and get back what he have has caused him to suffer even more. Adam didn’t trust God’s choices, thus he have to face the everlasting disappointment of his own choice, but unable to stop himself from searching and hoping either.
Corded
Fabric, Stainless Steel Wok, Ceramics Bowl, Metal
2016
500 x 300 x 300 mm
Corded talks about our shared “unrecorded” memories of being nurtured in our mother’s womb, the one experience that ties human beings, or even mammals, as one.
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The charred wok connected to a bowl represents the passing of nutrients and life force through
the umbilical cord between mother and fetus.
A situation where our body didn't ask for consent
of the mind, no matter how the mother didn’t want to share the nutrients, or the fetus didn’t want to receive the nutrients, our body will do this transferring process anyway
Cocoon
Fabric, Dacron
2016
250 x 120 x 100 mm
Cocoon was meant to be an interactive digital projection artwork but is able to stand alone as a sculpture without the video counterpart.
Cocoon poses a “make-believe” situation where humans are able to willingly/unwillingly survive in a vegetative/dormant state, where its vulnerability invites other’s exploitative desire, but at the same time emits peacefulness.
Still linked with the main theme of preconscious memories, Cocoon is an effort of reminiscing the past we all have long forgotten inside the placental membrane.
Happiness, Happiness, Hate
Plywood, Screw, Beads, Fabric
2016
300 x 30 x 100 mm
Happiness, Happiness, Hate, represents the relationship between me and my own body. While being happy living as a cisgender female, with a sexual preference that conforms to what society deems as normal, I couldn’t help but hate certain traits and prejudices attached to my female body.
Unlike the other two works, the binding and supporting objects used to shape the fabric was not actually removed from the fabric, which gives it a slightly different meaning, being the body as a responsive vessel of human emotion and feelings.
Strange Fruit, Strange Strange Fruit
Used cloth, Coffee, Pigment,
2016
Dimensions Variable
Strange fruit is my first experiment with Shibori/ Textile. I treat this piece as an exploration piece.
I was inspired by Billie Holliday's song from Abel Meeropol 's poem with the same title "Strange Fruit", talking about the apartheid politics in the United States. In one of the lines, it is revealed that the strange fruit is indeed bodies hanging from the tree. Therefore I decided to choose a nude/ beige colour to make the sculpture looks like shrivelled skin and fruit at the same time.