PERFORMING TEXTILES
Kawita Vatanajyankur
June 15 – August 25, 2019
Antidote Projects is proud to present the Sydney premiere of Performing Textiles, Vatanajyankur’s acclaimed video and print series, at Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney together with Nova Contemporary (Bangkok), Clear Edition & Gallery and Alamak! Project (Tokyo). The Spinning Wheel, 2018 is brought to Sydney following a slew of international and national showings, including the inaugural 2018 Bangkok Art Biennale in 2018, while Knit, 2019 makes its gallery debut.
Kawita Vatanajyankur’s work is a feminist celebration of strength and rumination of the hardship of Thai and migrant Asian women who perform gruelling manual labour on a daily basis. Mimicking the movements of large-scale machinery in mesmerising, vividly coloured photographs and videos, Vatanajyankur points to the immensity and back-breaking nature of manual labour as well as the place of those at the centre – cogs in a larger machine of exploitation. A result of her time studying wool production during a residency at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the works are both disturbing and seductive as they capture the artist’s durational performances in glowing colour, as she embodies the strength of the women of her birth country, Thailand and world over.
Image 1:
Kawita Vatanajyankur, Knit (still), 2019, single channel video, 25.53 mins.
Image 2:
Kawita Vatanajyankur, Spinning Wheel (still), 2018, two-channel video.