WW5: Ah, Motherland!

Tony Quim – Malaguena

FADO

FADO

Draping is an expression of freedom for me. I was born and raised in New Delhi, India and studied art and fashion in Chicago and U.K..I am intrigued with eastern and western influences in my life. My designs are often larger than life, sculptural pieces that creates a dichotomy of east and west. Nature and architecture are my greatest source of inspiration. I feel life is fluid, when shapes and forms are organic. By using sustainable fabrics whether it be, organic, vintage or recycled, I feel I am able to bring my vision to life without causing additional waste and damage to mother nature.

I find myself to be a fusion of east and west. Born and raised in India and moved to Chicago to study and later settle down with my husband, making America my new home. As days go by, I am trying to re-create, re-mold, re-visit my identity and the concept of ‘home’.

For ah Motherland! project, I am using my mother’s wedding saris from the 70’s to
create something new, western and personal for myself.
I am draping a simple pleated dress as a back drop in Ivory and black. Over that I have draped my mother’s sari that represents my culture and heritage; that can be worn several different ways, representing the adaptive/blending nature of an immigrant.

This drop of Agua de Carnaval (Carvinal Water) symbolizes the panamanian tradition and spirit. A combination of urine, sweet water (from a near by river), mud, river stones and confetti, will make the drinker endlessly happy, horny, and dance for hours at the time. This water will make you drink more water.

Bottle Study. The bottle represents a drop of Carnival Water. At the bottom of the bottle there is a hardened crust containing the magical ingredients. The bottle is meant to be refilled to make base us of the hardened crust.

Back of the bottle showing ingredients

Mood for display (inspiration from Radiohead and Gigant Grocery Chain)

The final installation will be print on canvas. Ideally I tould have had a huge ligh box to illustrate Agua de Carnaval on your local grocery.

When I initially submitted my proposal I planned to discuss my mother’s move from Barbados to America, her reasons why and it’s consequences on her life and the lives of her children. I intended to support the project with photos as well as audio/video recordings. After the Wonder Woman’s first meeting I came to the conclusion that it would not work, mostly because of the time constraints.

Through lots of discussion, great feedback and a lot of thinking I decided to create a video blog. The blog will be recorded daily and occur over the course of February. My focus is still my mother but now instead of interviewing family, visiting Barbados, etc, I’m discussing our journey as parallels and how my mom’s sacrifice directly affected the path I have taken.  In fact, her sacrifice is the main reason I had the opportunity to pursue this path.  Blogs are videotaped at different times of day, in different locations, etc. to help illustrate this fact.  Links to come!

Willa Goldthwaite

Email: willa@willagoldthwaite.com

Personal Website: www.willagoldthwaite.com

Artist Statement

Ah, Motherland! A Wonder Women project at _gaia

When my grandmother left Japan to start her new family in the United States, her own family was upset and rejected her and her new American husband. I have always been interested in the choice she made and in the social stigmas my grandmother struggled with both in Japan and in America.

I am developing a series dedicated to my grandmother, Eiko Sato. I have always felt a connection to my grandmother although she died when I was still young. I am focusing on the specific objects that my grandmother cherished most. After her death, visiting her house told me so much about who she was. Her possessions were a mixture of American and Japanese culture. With the plastic Christmas tree and the collection of videos ranging from Mighty Mouse to Elvis, I saw my grandmother’s shrine for her ancestors, her lucky cat, and her antique sewing machine. Now that the house is gone as well, all I have is the memories. My goal is to evoke these memories through my watercolors.

In my watercolors, I attempt to highlight aspects of life that we take for granted. It is these small and often unnoticed characteristics that give culture significance. The formal concerns are produced using different viscosities of paint. Through consideration of density and scale, fluidity of paint application and layering, I use an unconventional method of application, pushing the paint. This allows the forms to expand, overlap and bleed into each other. The thin black outline surrounding the colored forms connects them as a whole.

The first watercolor in the series is an image of Meneki Neko. Maneki Neko is Japanese for “beckoning cat.” Also known as Lucky Cat, Fortune Cat, Welcoming Cat, and Money Cat, Maneki Neko is a beloved figure in Japan and adorns places of business, welcoming you to come in. Lucky Cats are a very popular collector items- typically a porcelain figure. My grandmother kept one in her home as well as in her place of business.

For this project, I am translating the images from the watercolors into a design for Noren (entrance curtains). A recent visit to the Serizawa exhibit at the Japan Society inspired me to make Noren. The entrance curtain, which hangs in a doorway, is a traditional Japanese sign of the merchant’s shop. My grandmother owned her own tailor shop in the United States. Because I am machine-sewing these pieces myself, I also feel connected to the seamstress side of my grandmother. I believe that creating Noren would be the perfect way for me to honor her and the story of her immigration.

My proposal was to build a work that draws upon the metaphors of erosion, dissolving, transfer and, in essence, change. These are common phenomena of emagration/immagration. People hold onto parts of their culture of origin and lose others.

I envisioned a solid changing states over time. Central to the idea is the transition of matter from state to state. Set in the context of the  Ah, Motherland! residency, this action of state changing begins to imply the broader issues of changing landscapes, identities, perceptions.

I imagined a bound granulate solid— salt, sugar, or pigment—being slowly dissolved by a liquid. Salt proved to be the most suitable for the metaphor because of its universal qualities. It is a common denominator. Out of fine table salt I made solid slabs. I then experimented with different methods of bringing the salt into contact with a liquid: dripping, submerging, and adding pigment.

I decided to build a platform out of multiple slabs of salt. A block of colored ice will rest atop this structure and by simple physical change, the ice will melt and begin to dissolve the salt, carving it into a sort of landscape. Does change have to be quick, dramatic, immediate?

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