©Kawita Vatanajyankur and Nova Contemporary

作品簡介 / 創作自述 About Artworks

瓦卡娜嫣恩在蛋殼藍背景的襯托下，以自身當作工具，在頭部套上如梅杜莎的蛇髮般纏捲紐繞的線紗。她的雙腳腳踝被捆住，身體呈倒頭栽狀，懸吊在一只大染盆的上方，全程歷時7分42秒，而且為了將套在頭上的白色羊毛線紗染成紅色，藝術家多半時間要在水盆裡憋氣。除了雙踝被綁住外，她身上則是穿著她慣用的裸色緊身衣，另有一雙手緊緊握住她兩側髖關節處，帶著她重複執行這場刻意顯得荒謬可笑的動作，而瓦卡娜嫣恩也抓著這位操作員的手腕。

〈染〉意欲探討勞動本身的性別差異性。不難看出瓦卡娜嫣恩在創作中所要表達的種種衍生性張力：服從與力量、卑微感與亮色系、荒謬性與表演慾。亦柔亦剛的藝術家，化身成更扭曲的超資本主義（hypercapitalism）偏見裡，既脆弱又強大的女性勞動者。

2018年的《表演織品》系列作品，記錄藝術家用身體演示泰國女性所從事的體力活，而從這套錄像作品可以一窺女性身體的肉體性和脆弱性。《表演織品》以作品集的形式，引發出圍繞在文化認同、女權主義、勞動、消費性、親身經驗方面的種種問題──再透過高度色彩的現實主義和肉體之於物質的構圖張力來加以分類。

但不可否認的是，織品在人類歷史中有其不可動搖的存在感，而且織品生產「被公認為女人的工作」的發展與沿革，更是深植在人類文化裡。舉凡籃子編織工藝、織布機編織、針織、鉤織、蕾絲製作，全都是女性擅長的材質處理技能，意味著男人派不上用場。照這樣說來，瓦卡娜嫣恩的創作「著重在為女性每日的工作與付出的勞力賦予價值，同時犀利地檢視從社會及文化的角度，是如何看待女性所從事的工作。」勞力剝削是消費主義社會裡存在的一個大問題，它封鎖了進入女性賦權和性別平等的通路。《表演織品》系列企圖將這個議題暴露在公共領域裡。

Vatanajyankur, against an eggshell-blue background, is herself an implement, a vehicle for the Medusa-like sprawl of threads attached to her head. Her ankles are bound and she is suspended headfirst over the large bowl of dye for a full 7 minutes and 42 seconds. For much of the time, Vatanajyankur holds her breath underwater in an attempt to dye the white wool attached to her head red. In addition to her bound ankles, Vatanajyankur wears her trademark pale apricot leotard, and a pair of hands clasp either side of her hips to guide her in this intentionally absurd and repetitive procedure. Vatanajyankur grips her handler’s wrists.

Dye addresses the gendered, frequently sexualized nature of labor. Many of the generative tensions in Vatanajyankur’s work are evident in Dye: submission and strength, abjection and hyper-color, absurdity and performative intention. The artist is at once subjugated and resilient, and the female laborer vulnerable and powerful within the larger warp of hyper-capitalism.

Performing Textiles Series is a 2018 body of work, capturing the physical manifestation of manual labor processes undertaken by women in Thailand. Her suite of videos offers a vignette into the physicality and vulnerability of the feminine body. As a collection, Performing Textiles provokes questions surrounding the place of cultural identity, feminism, labor, consumption and lived experiences—classified through a lens of hyper-colored realism and the intensity of physical versus material composition.

However, textiles undeniably have a place firmly embedded in history, and it is this history of textile production—recognized as women’s labor—that has ingrained itself in our culture. Basketry, loom weaving, knitting, crochet and lacemaking are all feminine material skills that rendered men unnecessary. As such, Vatanajyankur’s practice “focuses on valuing women’s everyday work and labor, while offering a powerful examination of social and cultural ways of viewing women’s work.” Labor exploitation is a major issue within consumeristic society, blocking access to female empowerment and gender equality. Performing Textiles Series brings this issue into the public sphere.

關於藝術家 About Artist

©Kawita Vatanajyankur and Nova Contemporary

卡葳塔・瓦卡娜嫣恩

出生於泰國，瓦卡娜嫣恩於2011年自澳洲墨爾本大學畢業後便廣受藝壇矚目。2015年入圍捷豹亞洲科技藝術獎，並曾受邀參與倫敦薩奇美術館《泰國之眼》展覽、第57屆威尼斯雙年展正式會外泰國聯展《溪流中的島嶼》、墨爾本藝術中心的亞洲表演藝術三年展、國立臺灣美術館《關鍵斡旋：2017亞洲藝術雙年展》、2018曼谷藝術雙年展。2019年於紐約歐布萊－諾克斯美術館展出創作生涯最大規模的美術館個展。其作品除獲泰國國家典藏館收藏外，其他收藏單位包括新加坡美術館、紐西蘭達尼丁公立美術館、清邁Maiiam當代藝術館、曼谷當代藝術館等，以及紐澳、亞洲、歐美等地的學院與私人收藏。

Kawita Vatanajyankur

Born in Thailand, Vatanajyankur has achieved significant recognition since graduating from RMIT University (BA, Fine Art) in 2011. In 2015, she was a finalist in the Jaguar Asia Pacific Tech Art Prize and curated into the prestigious Thailand Eye exhibition at Saatchi Gallery, London. In 2017, her work has been curated into Islands in the Stream exhibition in Venice, Italy alongside the 57^th Venice Biennale, Asia Triennale of Performing Arts at the Melbourne Arts Center, as well as Negotiating the Future, The Asian Art Biennial Taiwan. In 2018, she showed her works as part of the Bangkok Art Biennale. In 2019, Vatanajyankur has held her largest museum show to date at Albright Knox Art Gallery in New York. Vatanajyankur’s work is held at the National Collection of Thailand and in museum collections including Singapore Art Museum, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum, MOCA Bangkok, as well as university collections and private collections in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe and America.