I've been part of a collective of artists mums for the past year. Together, we collaborated to submit a document in response to what feminism is to us today for the F generation: feminism, art, progressions exhibition that took place in October 2015. The final document which featured texts and visual art work was going to be archived in the Melbourne Women's Art Register.
The following image was what I submitted.
Last Sunday, I was invited to do a radio interview to talk about about my current exhibition, Family Fantasy. It was featured on Art Smitten, the SYN radio program. Here's the link for it.
Here's the invite for an exhibition I've been slowly preparing for the past few months. Here's the statement for the show:
"In horror stories or in fairy tales, the fascination with the morbid is a way to prepare for the unthinkable". Cindy Sherman Family Fantasy is a three-part installation exploring isolation: a model house, a photograph of a kitchen, and a constructed wall suggest sites where control over access to the outside is challenged. This exhibition was inspired by the artist?s experience living in Cleveland, Ohio in 2013. During the same year, three women were rescued from the house of their kidnapper Ariel Castro in Cleveland, Ohio. The women had been sequestered for ten years.
13 Essential Rules for Understanding the World, 2011. Super 8 film transferred to HD video. 5 min. 16 sec. by Basim Magdy
I caught the exhibition "Art as A Verb" on its last week at MUMA. Great selection of works surrounding the theme of action within and beyond the gallery space. There were several artists whose works I've only read about but never actually seen the documentation of the performance in a gallery setting. These artists include Tehching Hsieh (and his year long performances), Rirkrit Tiravanija (and his cooking for gallery goers as a performance), and Yoko Ono to name a few.
One artist I discovered was the Cairo-born Basim Magdy his video "13 Essential Rules for Understanding the World", 2011. I loved the simple everyday imagery that accompanied the text. Also, I liked how the text appeared to be presented as half-truths.
As part of the 2nd year VCA Photography class, we put together this show Compromise. The idea was to ask a non-artist relation to suggest a modification to a selected work of our choice. And we did as we were told!
I submitted this image I took while visiting my parents in Montreal back in 2013.
Light Foil
2014
84 x 65 cm
Archival Inkjet Print
I went to check out Lydia Wegner's latest photo series at Arc One Gallery. I remember seeing her early works when she was still doing Honours at VCA back in 2011. I've always loved her minimalistic arrangements with found objects. I really enjoyed this show for the use of bright and bold colours throughout the photo series. Before seeing this show, I've never considered using coloured frames. Wegner's carefully colour-coordinated frames proved to be worth it.
Kitty’s shoes on couch, Still life (1988) - Janina Green
I had the chance to see this show last week at the Monash Gallery of Art. Great overview of the works of various Australian women photographers whose works I had yet to discover such as those of Helen Grace, Ponch Hawkes, & Robyn Stacey to name a few. I noted several hand coloured silver gelatin prints throughout the exhibition. One of my VCA teachers, Janina Green, had a series of still life photographs which beautifully depicted the craft of hand colouring. The image shown above resonated with me: I saw fragility and delicateness in it.
Here's my end of year final project for my Sculpture and Spatial Practice class. I used an excerpt of the 9-1-1 call Amanda Berry made on the day she was rescued in May 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. In hindsight, I wish I had documented the wall hanging with the square box on its own!
(front/back of my ticket)
Last January, I attended a special viewing of a selected series of works by the American street photographer, Vivian Maier, at the Cleveland Print Room. The first time I read about Maier was in this article. She had been a very secretive person and hardly showed her work. Maier was discovered in 2007 by a Chicago realtor at an auction house who stumbled upon a box filled with her negatives. Also later found were 100,000 negatives and hundreds of unprocessed rolls. I was moved by her dedication and passion to photograph everyday life at such a rate.
I noticed at Maier’s exhibit that she astutely depicted humanity’s sensibility and rawness around her that reminded me of Lisette Model’s street photography. Maier must have been seeking that human connection by gleaning all these portraits over the years and throughout her travels.
Intentionally left Blanc, 2012 (Photo without flash)
Intentionally left Blanc, 2012 (Photo with flash)
I saw Hank Willis Thomas' exhibition in January 2014 in Cleveland (OH) at the Transformer Station and at the Cleveland Museum of Art. A multi-talented artist who uses photography, film, web, and installation to explore history, identity, and popular culture. I really liked the various materials he uses such as the screenprint on retro-reflective paper (see above). Another favorite would be the photographs framed using lenticular glass mounts. Having seen the Carrie Mae Weem's show in late 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art, I can see how Weems is an inspiration to Thomas'. I couldn't help but empathise with some of the images referring to key moments in American Black History. Thomas' visual imagery is strong and provocative. Here's more on Hank Willis Thomas.
One Year Performance 1980-1981 (a.k.a. Time Clock Piece)
I first heard of Tehching Hsieh and the “Time Clock Piece, 1980-1981” in 2010. I was both shocked and in awe. I’ve experienced sleep deprivation but I can’t imagine punching the clock every hour and taking self-portraits of each of these moments for a whole year. It’s another level of performance. For Marina Abramovíc, she makes it clear that she prepares for weeks before her performances thought meditation, dietary changes, etc. I’d be interested to know how Tehching Hsieh sustained such mental and physical endurance for his year-long performance projects.
Here’s a good article about his career and exhibition in Sydney.
Discovered this Chinese artist Yijun Liao. I like her works. They’re witty and beautifully composed. Below is ’Relationships work best when each partner knows their proper’ from the series ‘Experimental relationship’, 2008.
Yijum Liao, ‘Relationships work best when each partner knows their proper’ from the series ‘Experimental relationship’, 2008. C-print, 24 x 20 “
Read both books at the same time not realising how similar these were in dealing with wit, depression, anxiety, & existentialism. Couldn’t say which of the two was more depressing. Good reads though.
A few weeks before I moved to Cleveland, I found this episode on Art21 about Catherine Opie’s commissioned photo series for the Hillcrest Hospital, in Cleveland. I was familiar with Opie’s self-portraits (see below) and portraits of others depicting strong statements about sexuality, S&M culture, gender issues. I was really surprised at this completely different body of work.
Her series was of various shots of Lake Erie. There’s something very calming with these images of water. I can see how this series works well in a hospital setting: it instills familiarity, contemplation, and meditation.
My photograph doesn’t give justice to the images. Nor does the spot lighting on site.
Self Portrait / Nursing, 2004
C-print, 40 x 32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm)
Ed. of 8
I went to see a photography show by Ohio-born artist Todd Hido at Transformer Station. Excerpts from Silver Meadows is about memory, and where Hido grew up. Some of his photos reminded me of stills from a David Lynch movie. I really liked the eeriness of those.
The gallery is worth checking out too. It’s a newly renovated substation.
I enjoyed this book. My favorite chapter is “The art of the pilgrimage” and explores the practices of artists such as James Turrell, Micheal Heizer, and Matthew Barney which are more quirkier and extreme than I expected.
My friend went for her honeymoon out to check out some of these remote land art installations. She followed a map with precise GPS coordinates to reach a spot where she would be picked up and driven to a secret destination. On that trip, she saw “The lightning field” by Walter de Maria.
Discovered Julia Cahill’s video and installation works at the Mattress Factory last month. Cahill is an activist and a performer. For this project, she comments satirically on breasts and sexual imagery in popular culture.
The Paradise Institute (2001) is a video and installation project at MOCA by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. I sat though the 13 min. long video and I had the impression I was part of the video, part of the audience, and a distant observer at various times. The sensory experience is incredible and the installation is perfect to allow complete immersion.
I saw Kate Gilmore’s exhibition at MOCA. Loved this installation Love ‘em, Leave ‘em and the video of this performance.
A couple of years ago I picked up a used copy of this book on Lee Miller by Carolyn Burke. I knew Miller had been a photographer but that was it. It turns out she was probably one of the first under recognized female photographers of the 20th century. She was an early feminist and wore many hats. In her life, she had been a model, a muse, and a gourmet chef. Her beauty made her a legend. She modelled for Vogue and for several artists such as Picasso, Steichen, Man Ray, and was featured in Cocteau’s play 'Le sang d'un poète'. She was a bit of a fashionista too. When fabric was rationed during WWII, she influenced fashion sense by making recommendations on how women should wear their uniforms.
Portrait of Space. Near Siwa Egypt, 1937
When it comes to photography, my favorite photo of Miller is ‘Portrait of Space’. I love its minimalism and its surreal effect. In the late twenties, Miller was Man Ray’s lover, model, muse, and assistant. They formed a successful partnership producing Surrealist art. “Portrait of Space” could be seen as Miller’s need for escapism. The photo was taken when she lived in Egypt in the early 1930s after marrying an Egyptian businessman. On several occasions to beat boredom, she would load up her car with food, maps, and her camera gear and take her friends out to the desert for days at a time.
Lee Miller in Hitler’s bathtub (1945), by David E. Sherman
As good as she on both sides of the lens, she was also a good writer. (A skill I’m always working on!) She was the photographer/correspondent for ‘Vogue’ and covered the war in Normandy and Hitler’s Germany during WWII. She wanted to be there at the front, which was unusual for a woman of her time, let alone as a photojournalist. I like her images of that period: she didn’t have the deadpan style that most photojournalists tended to use. Her Surrealist style resulted in interesting tableaux.
Miller’s biography is a good read. I felt teleported to another era living vicariously in the skin of Lee Miller. I enjoyed it because I saw in Miller a woman who was talented, unconventional, and a good photographer as well.
