Our 7th annual exhibition Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse: Don't Be Absurd asked the 117 participating artists - more than ever before! - to reflect on Absurdist works by Beckett, Kafka, Camus, Saramago, and de Beauvoir. Through the works created for Don't Be Absurd our artists explored how they connected, interpreted, and presented absurdity within the constraints of a circular shape and fiber art.
Our eighth Q&A roundup features Adriana Carvalho, Aida Tejada, Georgia Fambris, Jamie Zimchek, Katia Bandeira de Mello, Nicole Durham.
Is this your first time being in The Women Pulling at The Threads of Social Discourse exhibition series? If yes, what drew you in? If not, how many have you been in - and what are your thoughts over the different editions?
Adriana Carvalho: It is my third time... each year is a new interesting theme to transform into visual art.
Aida Tejada: This is I think my 4th time. I find interesting the most of exhibitions are based on intellectual challenge. Making the artist interpreting a novel or a theater piece.
Georgia Fambris: Yes, this is my first time , I had the pleasure to have been invited to join the open call by Threads of social discourse on Instagram.
Jamie Zimchek: Yes, this is my first time. I saw some work online from last year's show and was really intrigued, as working with fiber is a large part of my practice. Much of my work revolves thematically around an exploration of the controlling narratives that drive societal constructs both on a public level but also in private, at home, and women are some of those most impacted by these divisive storylines. When a friend of mine (who happens to work regularly with the Camp Gallery) sent me the open call for this show, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
Katia Bandeira de Mello: Yes, first time. My art and writing are centered in the concept of the Absurd.
Nicole Durham: This marks my second year participating in The CAMP Gallery’s Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse. Each year, I’m both intrigued and energized by how the show’s theme aligns with my own creative journey, challenging me to unravel, examine, and reweave the narratives that shape our cultural and personal landscapes.
Each edition of this fiber series asks artists to respond to particular literary classics, who did you select for this year and why?
AC: All Men Are Mortal - because if a human being does not evolve, the soul can not be free. The Blindness - because in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king. And I compare it with the gold and diamonds exploration in Brazil and Africa. The Hungry Artist - because we all artists are craving for exposure and society marginalizes artist. I laugh at the end when the hungry artist said he starved because he did not find the food he liked :))
AT: The Stranger, Albert Camus.
GF: Lately I have been working on the theme of the dismemberment of the body, in the sense of transformation, change and rebirth. I had the idea of creating a work inspired by the novel of Kafka The Metamorphosis using the form of the Aztec stone (the Coyolxauhqui stone) , which I came across some time ago ,which also suits to the requested circular shape of the work. A fragmented female body as a depiction of alienation, physical and psychological change which leads to a kind of Symbolic "death", followed by a possible rebirth and new life, exploring the fragility of human existence.
JZ: Over the last several years, my practice has dug deep into controlling narratives, both in a broader context that includes politics and religion, but also in my personal life. As a child, I believed women could do anything men could; then I had children of my own, became trapped in an abusive relationship and realized the lie. I tried to make myself small, quiet, contorted and twisted myself to fit, to show that I contributed, that I cared, that I was a strong woman willing to sacrifice still more. Instead, this story, my story, was reframed and retold by someone else driving a version of myself (and women) that I didn’t recognize. My lived truth was at every turn undermined, discounted, denied. It was an outlandish and destabilizing way of existing in which, as Meursault’s lawyer in The Stranger puts it, “everything is true and nothing is true”. While I’ve grappled with the limits of feminism specifically and the limitations of humanity, more generally, I’ve watched other blatantly absurd interpretations of truth take on broader societal implications that then slowly reframe reality. My work for this show, Centripetal Force, takes the loose shape of a female form, deconstructed but still together, both true and not true. “All mankind is us, whether we like it or not,” opines Beckett’s Vladimir in "Waiting for Godot". “Let’s make the most of it, before it is too late!” In the end, this female form reframes, reconstitutes, holds the center, finds a way to re-stabilize and reconnect - before it is too late (but none too soon).
KBDM: The Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka. Kafka is a main influence on my work and I have already rewritten this short story for another book of mine.
ND: My creative is influenced after both a combination of Frank Kafka and Albert Camus reference works: Metamorphosis and the transformation of roles, self-abandoning of individuality for the benefit of others, especially as it relates to the modern evolved identity of mothers and their continuous roles within the family.
What do you feel about the shape constraint?
AC: Round shapes are eye keepers as artworks... indeed it is challenge to construct it.
AT: I found the shape unusual but interesting, as it was perfect for the subject matter. Talking about the absurd the round piece being the perfect shape.
GF: As with all "requests" on how to conform my work, this type of restrictions always entails a difficulty at first as it limits the creative process, later this turns into an extra stimulus on research and finally into an opportunity, as in my case, to find affinities and correlations with the themes I follow, so, at the end, I think it was helpful and challenging.
JZ: I normally feel slightly exasperated by circles because they can feel... wishy-washy -- they never seem to get to a point. But in this case, the shape constraint really resonated with me. As I was developing the project, I kept thinking of centripetal force (which happens to be the title of this piece) in the context of the line from Yeats' poem, The Second Coming: "Things fall apart, the center cannot hold". But yes - the center can hold, you pull your arms and legs in and hold tight and you're a force of nature.
KBDM: Constraints are parameters fir creation, it works fine.
ND: I hated it. LOL. Just kidding, I honestly struggled a little bit with the shape and eventually gave in and allowed the piece to challenge my way of thinking and of working with a new shape. I love how it truly helped my creative process evolve; If I’m being honest, I learned a lot.
At the gallery, we are always interested in knowing how the actual process of making the work affects you - please explain, if you can, what is on your mind while making your piece?
AC: The process of making the work is exquisite and very difficult; specially being a round shape. But, the most interesting is all the ideas exploding in my mind during the delicate and slowly production. I create two more works besides the ones I submitted... just for fun and to catch the idea... its absurd ideas!
AT: This time, I worked with cyanotype, letting the piece dry under the sun, which was my main character in my two pieces. I had to collect plants to woks the blue background, and using water to rinse the fabric, before to start stitching the threads. It is a very meditative process as I think about the novel while working.
GF: In these works I based myself on the drawings and sketches submitted to the open call, so the creative process was more design-oriented and not so much left to evolution and randomness that is often found in my work, so most of the work was involved in finding a way to relate Kafka's novella to the idea of the dismemberment of the body and the Aztec circular stone while remaining expressively close to my world.
JZ: For me, both the focus on fiber arts and the title/theme were in step with my current practice and life circumstances. At home, I have sole custody of two teens and am finding my feet after a difficult relationship in which there were impossible--absurd--domestic expectations and a full erosion of truth; on a larger level, I'm also thinking about the precarity I feel as the nation is pushed on a more public and political level by regular plot twists that similarly undermine ideas about the real and unreal. These things are always on my mind as I work, and there's something about juxtaposing this kind of "heavy" with light-weight silks and smooth textures that's really rewarding. Soft sculpture is my preferred medium for figurative work, so making this piece that's both personal and about personhood--a tangle of limbs holding the center--from tactile textiles felt like the obvious approach as I sewed my way through this piece.
KBDM: It is a very contemporary piece dealing with the obesity crisis worldwide, it affects me deeply, particularly in connection with my fear of weight gain, or deadly loss.
ND: As a mother, I find myself constantly battling with so many emotional roles. I create best when I’m usually angry about something in my life and when those angers are stemmed from experiences that limit me as a woman. Being a mother in a processional world has influenced so much of my art. The same standards that I’m held up to as a mother, wife, professional, and even as an artist. My anger calms when I create and often, I take it out on ‘the canvas’, and it becomes a reflection of that moment in time: how I felt… be it
cheated, discriminated, or minimized. When I look back at the finished works, I feel better and it’s no longer a reminder of that memory but more a reminder of the release.
What inspires you?
AC: Every circumstance in daily life... especially the ones embracing injustice, humor and nature.
AT: In this work the subject about the absurd. This is a perfect subject for nowadays, as my inspiration is the present social environment where we live.
GF: I am inspired by trying to find those images that come closest to my way of perceiving the world in which I live, by the feminine world as a mirror of my condition related to feminist themes and claims that are part of an existentialist vision and feeling.
JZ: I really love work that makes me think, but also has a sense of humor. Sometimes the things that inspire me most are the things I don't see coming - the unexpected - there's an element of delight in that kind of discovery.
KBDM: Literature is my passion in life.
ND: The majority of my work is inspired by my life experiences and what I felt in those moments. A Mother’s Weight is me trying to do it all for my family… I tried… momma tried! I’m still trying.
Can you let us know about three fiber artists who have helped shape your work?
AC: Gego - I see metal wire as fiber too. And recently I feel in love with the work of Olga de Amaral.
AT: Sonia Gomes, Wangechi Mutu, Vik Muniz.
GF: Louise Bourgeois, Caroline Achaintre, Anna Perach.
JZ: There are so many that I've looked to over the years, but some of the artists I keep coming back to for soft sculpture are Sarah Lucas, Dorothea Tanning, and Eva Koťátková (the latter a contemporary Czech artist) but also on the shortlist are the likes of Louise Bourgeois, Annette Messager and Yayoi Kusama (some of her older work). Though there are many talented artists working with fiber, these have all at points explored the human body in some form, whether as disconnected part objects, internal organs or whole bodies, which is really relevant to how I work.
KBDM: Louise Bourgeois, Aurora Molina and Beatriz Milhazes.
ND: Madison Hendry, Rosa Henríquez, and Amy Putman.