KAWITA VATANAJYANKUR
THE ROBES
The Robes, HD Video, 2014
The Robes is one of Vatanajyankur's gentler works, yet the intensity of the work's affect is not dampened. The sensation extends to the heavy feeling on the chest as she bares the weight of her body on such a thin line. Her feet are the site of tension as her toes hold on tightly to the rope. Intermittently, this feeling is disrupted as her grip loosens and she falls, disappearing into the pile of cloth below. This cloth ensures a soft landing, which takes emphasis away from the potential pain of impact, leaving the viewer to oscillate between feelings of tension and release.
The Robes is in the Collection of Singapore Art Museum
THE ROBES
The Robes, HD Video, 2014
Edition of 3+AP
Kawita Vatanajyankur's performative video series Tools aims to reconstruct the elements of traditional seventeenth-century painting—often portraying a female figure, usually posed as a still object within a domestic work space. Vatanajyankur's work illustrates the relationship between the female body and domestic objects, which physically—sometimes violently—confront each other until the body succumbs and is pressured to work with the object; merge with it; become part of it; and eventually, is transformed into a sculptured domestic tool. The action and reaction of the body reflects the physical, psychological and cultural aspects of female endurance, physical resilience, strength and insecurity.
The Robes (2014) is in a collection of Singapore Art Museum.