Harness
by Josie Cavallaro
A video installation focusing on traditional textile in Thailand
through woman's perspective.
Josie
is interested in Thailand traditional textile culture. According
to Josie, "The tradition and social function of textiles in
Thai society are bound by the rich metaphors contained in Theravarda
Buddhism. Traditionally, the spinning, dyeing and weaving of textiles
was linked to religious ritual. An almost exclusive form of merit
making for women and a counterbalance to traditionally male oriented
arts of stone, metal and bronze. A record of society as seen through
the eyes of women."
This
exhibition endeavors to express cultural concerns, tension and ironies
discussed in the above statement. By utilizing the gallery space
as an installtion site, the work aims to harness an engagement with
the viewer.
Josie
Cavallaro was born in Australia in 1973. A BFA candidate in Visual
Arts at University of Western Sydney, Josie currently lives in Bangkok
as an exchange student at the faculty of Painting, Sculpture and
Graphic Art, Silpakorn University, Bangkok. She participated in
various group exhibitions included; The 4th Chiangmai Social Installation
Festival, Chiangmai, 1997; Italo-Australian Art Award Exhibition,
Festival House, Sydney,1995; Mary Evitt Art Award Exhibition, Casula
Powerhouse, Sydney, 1995; Designer; Dance Week '95,Hyde Park Barracks,
Sydney; Graduation Exhibition, University of Western Sydney, Nepean,
1994; Representation,The Performance, Sydney,1994; Womens' Dissonance
Exhibition, University of Wollongong,Wollongong, 1994; Performance,
Lenticular Lens, Skate Skating Center, Sydney, 1994; Designer, Dreaming
in the belly of the black dog, University of Western Sydney, Nepean;
Air Drawn Dagger, Casula Powerhouse, Sydney, 1993.
Artist's
statement :
The
tradition and social function of textiles in Thai society are bound
by the rich metaphors contained in Theravarda Buddhism. Traditionally,
the spinning, dyeing and weaving of textiles was linked to religious
ritual. An almost exclusive form of merit making for women and a
counterbalance to traditionally male oriented arts of stone, metal
and bronze. A record of society as seen thorough the eyes of women.
Today,
even with the ever encroaching pressures of industrialization, the
symbolic rituals contained by the use of thread and cloth continue
to be embraced. However, as a consequence of industrial modes of
production, the role of the weaver and the potency of her skills
are rapidly eroding. For example, the merit making ritual of the
mother weaving her son's robe in preparation for ordination into
the monastery is no longer practiced. Instead, the required cloth
is commercially mass produced. The abundance of "ready to go"
textiles adapted for religious rites, indicates an aspect of this
tradition that continues to be unraveled by the shifting modes of
cultural production, consumption and technology.
From
the perspective of "other" within this cultural context,
these observations are constructed by an interest in the anthropology
of cloth. It's relationship to women and how this experience has
become entangled by the uniform rhythm of industry in the late 20th
century.
Both
traditional and industrial modes of production perpetuate repetitive
labor and can often bind the worker into a silent state of focused
energy. Within such processes, intimate dialogues emerge between
these repetitive gestures and the tools that harness the body's
movement. Within the traditional and sacred processes of Thai textile
production, the end product reflects the celebration of the weaver's
history, society and belief system. Today, with an ever increasing
availability of synthetic substitutes this bond is being replaced
by an infinite repetition of gross gestures, common to the universal
experience of the factory environment.
Josie
Cavallaro
Bangkok 1997
This
exhibition is made possible by Toshiba (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Beurderley
Galerie Paris & Khun Eric Bunnag Booth
Special thanks to Khun Kobkarn Wattanawarangkul,Khun Somsak Raksuwan,
Khun Chanyaporn Chancharoen, Khun Tom B. Van Blarcom,, Khun Sujinda
Siriswatwattana, Khun Preeda Duangkao, Keng, Kla and Yui
|