THE ICE SHAVER

THE ICE SHAVER

Centre for Contemporary Photography

The Ice Shaver is part of Kawita Vatanajyankur's performative video series Tools, in which she 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.