handkerchiefs

July 2021 - Update

 
 
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Work in Progress - Funded Art Book Project

After three months of hard core cross-stitching and laborious unstitching, I’ve completed the final cross-stitch piece for my art book project funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. July will be spent reviewing all of the stories submitted through my open call and carefully curating/selecting which ones to include in the book. I will also begin the design and layout of the book using InDesign. It’s really rewarding to see months of work come together and I can’t wait to show off the book when it’s all done!

 
 

Recording: Feminist Craft of Care in Times of Crisis

Back in May, I was one of three artist’s that presented and participated in a panel discussion as part of the public programming for Cinevolution’s Digital Carnival Z. Now there’s a recording of the full event available to view on youtube!

Moderated by Minah Lee, Associate Curator.

How have the labours of women artists been affected by the challenges of the ongoing pandemic? By centering feminist understandings of time and intergenerational connections, can we resist normalized and privileged cruelties practiced by capitalist patriarchy in these unprecedented times?

This panel invites you to the works of Lena Chen, Mallory Donen, and Sarah Shamash, three women artists who are crafting "care culture" in their communities through their art practice and subverting the expected outcomes of feminized labours. Lena Chen is a Chinese American writer and artist creating performances and socially engaged art in live and virtual contexts. Mallory Donen is a multidisciplinary artist residing in Vancouver, exploring processes rooted in traditional craft passed down by generations of women in her family. Sarah Shamash’s projects often underline geopolitics, feminist thought, and historical difference as a marker for understanding the world and worldings in media histories. Threading together realities of gender, labour, and surveillance, the artists' dialogue will expose gendered bodies in resistance, woven into the textile and tactility of the digital world and beyond.

This artist panel is part of the public program series curated by Minah Lee for Cinevolution's Digital Carnival Z, featuring UNION by Featured Artists Nancy Lee 李南屏 and Kiran Bhumber ਕਿਰਨਦੀਪ ਕੌਰ ਭੰਬਰ.

Discover the rest of the events in the series at www.DigitalCarnival.ca.

Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans

I’m excited to share a new video work that I created as a response to the pandemic. The work is intended as comic relief from the anxieties that someone might be experiencing now that state of emergency restrictions are being lifted. How do we start functioning as social human beings again, after such an extended period of isolation? What is normal?

Society Reboot: A Guide for Humans is an instructional video created for humans starting over in a social setting. Have you been quarantined during a pandemic? Do you need a guide for social interactions that use to be second nature? Then, this is the video for you! Or maybe existing in society has always been awkward for you? If so, this guide will introduce you to the social basics and help you learn how to be more “normal”.

This project provides a serious reflection of society's ever-changing definition of “normal”. Humour, irony, and sheer ridiculousness are used as tools to confront discomforts and fears, as individuals are re-introduced to societal interactions.

May 2021 - Update

Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis: a presentation panel

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On May 13th @6:30pm-8:00pm PST, I will be presenting at an artist panel “Feminist Craft of Care for Times of Crisis”, alongside Lena Chen & Sarah Shamash. The panel is part of Digital Carnival Z an annual festival run by Cinevolution Media Arts. I’m very excited to be part of such a well run event and to be presenting with such amazing and talented artists. Register online through Eventbrite to attend the event for free.

I will present works from the past several years which investigate notions of labour, productivity, and the value of art in relation to craft and women’s work. Instead of becoming reliant on computers and other advanced technologies that are accelerating the speeds of production and consumption alike, I choose to look back to centuries-old practices that have been passed down through generations of women. I explore the parallel between repetitive processes and computer programming by taking on the role of a machine.

By embracing time-consuming processes such as hand-stitching, I emphasize the importance and value of women’s labour. As a female artist, my labour is feminized and inherently connected to women’s domestic work. I challenge expectations of traditional craft by introducing conceptual layers and experimentation with new media. Throughout my artist talk, I will bring awareness to the value of feminine art forms and the connection between craft and fine art.

A WAY Online Art Gallery

GlitchSeries04 - Crop_1_crop.jpg, Archival inkjet print and embroidery, 11 x 14 inches, 2019

GlitchSeries04 - Crop_1_crop.jpg, Archival inkjet print and embroidery, 11 x 14 inches, 2019

Glitch Series 04 is available for sale at A WAY Online Art Gallery for the next couple months, check out their website for my work and art by some other amazing artists!

Open Call - Submit your Story

Women’s stories surrounding pain will be chosen to be part of a conceptual art book project, mirrored with images of delicate handkerchiefs and embroidery.

Submit your anonymous stories and experiences of when you felt the need to hide either your emotional/physical pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive.

Let us contradict the stereotype of women as pure and fragile by demonstrating the perseverance, dedication, and strength of women. 

Work in Progress - Funded Art book Project

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The past month has been jammed packed with many hours of cross-stitching, as I begun working on my project funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. First, I received my new embroidery stand and hoops in the mail. Second I fully prepped a piece of Aida cloth by securing the edge with stitches, to prevent fraying. I even marked the vertical and horizontal middles with stitches, which is something I rarely do!

For this project, I am creating an art book consisting of scans of my Ama’s original handkerchiefs and corresponding cross-stitched replications of each pattern.

I have chosen and scanned nine handkerchiefs, which I am converting into cross-stitch patterns. Using the patterns, I am cross-stitching nine embroidered pieces (approx. 6x6 inches each), which are scanned once completed.

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After each cross-stitch piece is completed, I will mirror the cyclical structure of a woman’s existence and allude to the concept of invisibility, by recycling the same piece of Aida cloth and the same strands of embroidery thread for each new pattern. I will unravel each completed cross-stitch replication and re-stitch the next handkerchief by reusing the same material.

The art book will consist of pages with a scan of a handkerchief on the left and a scan of the corresponding cross-stitched piece on the right. It will also include stories selected from an anonymous open call (Submit your story to be a part of the project). The stories will be examples from women who have had to hide or pretend that they were not in pain in order to avoid pity or shame for being too sensitive.

Throughout April, I completed three of the nine cross-stitch pieces. Each piece took an average of 25 hours to cross-stitch and 14 hours to unstitch. It’s weird to think that the only evidence of these works will be the final scans/images that will be included in the art book. Although it may seem unusual, it adds to the conceptual aspects of the work, by emphasizing the invisibility of the labour. This connects to the idea of women’s labour and pain as invisible.

I acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

 
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