WW5: Ah, Motherland!

a mesa

Odhni plays a significant role in this conversation of multiple worlds. The current environmental distress defines meeting and maybe even melding of cultures. My personal interest in seeing what it takes to harness enough energy to bring light into a house intrigues me. Having come from a country where we all studied under candle light because of the forewarned “load shedding” that occurred on a daily basis, to one where the whole economy comes to a grinding halt when there is a black out makes this piece curious. Through this work I try to develop a narrative between the east and the west, between the “haves” and the “have nots” and a natural flow of giving back to an old land, stripped of all its natural resources. The added narrative of women performing this act also goes back to the roles played in nurturing and providing for the home.

Natural Fuse

The Spider, the mistress and the tangerine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMdWNwOWnng

Part 1.

In my work I combine elements from my contemporary American life with elements from my heritage. I find this to be one way that I am able to connect with my heritage that is otherwise becoming lost. The idea of what it means to be American or of mixed heritage is changing. It used to be that you had to categorize yourself as a single identity. There is more room for people of mixed heritage in today’s culture. Actually, I think that it is the true symbol of what it means to be American. In my work I am trying to reflect the dichotomy of east and west and most importantly the harmony of the two, so that it doesn’t appear that the two are clashing. I paint elements of Japanese culture but in a modern style, not using traditional Japanese methods. I also incorporate icons of my American life such as the George Washington Bridge, which may sit amidst cherry blossoms and koi fish and Japanese maple leaves. To some the combination of the individual elements may seem strange, but hopefully they find the painting in its entirety to be pleasant.

Part 2.

Wangechi Mutu

1972 Born in Nairobi, Kenya

2000 MFA, Yale University, School of Art Sculpture, New Haven.

1996 BFA, Cooper Union for the Advancement of the Arts and Science, New York.

1991 I.B. United World College of the Atlantic, Wales, UK
Lives and works in New York

How has studying anthropology affected your art work?

Studying anthropology has helped me to connect to colonial concepts and to explore the contradictions of cultural and female identity.

Why do you use pornographic materials in your collages?

The representation of women in pornography and the concepts of beauty in our current society are questionable. The women are ‘supposed’ to be beautiful, yet they are portrayed as vixens, as sex objects, never as mothers or sisters or daughters.

How does your work transcend borders and create new ideals of what it means to be American/immigrant/mixed heritage” (whichever way you self identify)?

I create my own personal landscapes to create a home that is my own within me and to transcend the physical borders of land and country. We immigrants and descendants of immigrants are always the “other” existing between two worlds divided by national borders. Through this project, I am attempting to eradicate these borders for myself and hopefully inspire the viewer that is dealing with similar issues to find their personal resolution.  In telling my own personal story as someone who was at one point an illegal immigrant, I am attempting to humanize the “alien” to the audience that isn’t dealing with this issue.

I think the salt piece is about crossing borders, the dissolving of one into the many. In the context of Ah, Motherland! it draws upon the varied “immigrant” experiences of the viewer to set the context for the action that will (slowly) occur. So the viewer may be seen as the informant to what this change is, what it means.

And as for an artist with a different cultural background, I’ve been thinking of the work of James Turrell. Even though he is not a her, I’d ask him:

1. How do you keep exploring the same concepts without making the same work every time?

2. What are you currently reading?

To all wonder women and guests, I would like to extend to you this invitation:

“A Tribute to José Afonso”

Glória de Mello
Ryan Elliot Green
José Luis Iglésias
Leonel Lorador
João S Martins
Jorge Quaresma
Fátima Santos

February 23, 2009
8:30 PM
Sport Club Português
51-55 Prospect St. Newark, NJ

“The border” is a familiar territory to every continent, country, state, town and village. The border exists to segregate and to protect. The question is, how did the immigrant make her way to the border, who or what inspired the move towards complete change?

Reminiscing with one another about our own personal journey allows us to connect to each other. Music could be the incidental that ties us all together. Artists created and sang songs to speak to the public, these songs bridged continents to villages by way of record and then radio. Maybe it was the song that inspired the immigrant to cross the border.

Fado songs recreate an experience for each listener. The experience is unexplainable, it just causes a reaction, it evokes emotion. The Saturdays I spend listening to the coffee shop regulars go about their routine, having conversations that are about nothing, but are genuine, allows me to appreciate how rich they are in social activity. My new friends have come to expect my Saturday visits, they ask me about my project and how it’s coming along. Even the ones that don’t know me yet, know why I am there. By just merely being present, I have changed their routine and have been the cause of conversation. I believe that just caring enough to ask how someone feels, is enough to connect us to one another. In short, through communication we collectively transcend all borders.

I have included a video of one of Fado’s most famous artists : Amalia Rodrigues , the song is titled : Strange way of life.

1. Can you walk me through your day? (Not what you physically do, rather what you see. Your perception of your day)

2. How often do you travel and what determines the final destination?

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