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 tenth Q&A roundup features Joanne Steinhardt, Linda Fernandez, Maria Claudio Brigido, Natale Cree Adgnot, Sascha Mallon, and Sonja Czekalski.
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?
Joanne Steinhardt: Yes, it is my first time. I was drawn to the literary nature and structure of the call and specifically the reference material of Waiting for Godot which is a meaningful and familiar work that I have returned to throughout my life and practice as an artist.
Linda Fernandez: Yes this is my first time being a part of this exhibition.
Maria Claudio Brigido: This is my first time in the exhibition series - in any exhibition, actually. I do not consider myself a working artist yet. But a friend referred me to the Open Call and I found the exercise of reflecting on a book to create an art piece exciting, and decided to go for it. Also, the challenge of using a medium historically associated with women to express the Absurd sounded really interesting.
Natale Cree Adgnot: This is my first time participating in the exhibition series. I’ve been interested in working with The CAMP Gallery for some time because I have several friends who work with the gallery. This call seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so, especially since one of the texts was L’Étranger by Camus.
Sascha Mallon: Yes, for the first time, the title drew me in and also the theme. I like the idea of lots of artists creating a big piece of art/installation/message together.
Sonja Czekalski: Yes! I have been wanting to be a part of this for years. This year, the stars aligned.
Each edition of this fiber series asks artists to respond to particular literary classics, who did you select for this year and why?
JS: I selected Waiting for Godot. I gravitated towards that play naturally as it is one that I have frequently returned to over the years. The play and its conception has a very circular nature, being inspired by Freidrich’s Two Men Contemplating the Moon, c. 1825. I was intrigued by how that related back to the call and how I could continue the circle so to speak.
LF: I selected Jose Saramago’s, Blindness because I remember seeing the movie a few years ago and feeling very impacted by the message. In the book, physical blindness becomes a metaphor for moral and spiritual blindness. People fail to see each other's humanity even when they have sight. I related to this text because when I was 17 I lost vision in my left eye due to an accident with contact lenses. As a teen consumed with vanity and beauty culture, I never would have imagined that my loss of sight would give me greater insight into who I am and the world I want to live in. In my artwork I use symbols to connect to various themes but also as a way of connection to ancestors and culture of the past, to the present and to the future through connection with other people. I use the symbol of an eye to represent “Vision” as a metaphor for inner vision. This symbol is used by many cultures to represent protection and spiritual guidance.
MCB: I've selected Blindness, by José Saramago, as the focus of my work. This is an amazing book that touches on so many different major subjects to offer a crude view of the Absurd. In the book, suddenly, all characters go blind. An interesting detail of this random event is that this blindness is white. “A white sheet”. This whiteness can be interpreted as being the opposite of blindness: when the characters could see, they were unable to perceive the absurd around and within them. It’s only by going blind that they can finally see that the personal, moral and social constructs in place make life absurd. The “white evil” destroys all they know, but it also creates an opportunity to re-evaluate society itself, and maybe start over in a different way.
NCA: I chose Camus’s L’Étranger, which has been translated both as The Outsider and The Stranger. Its themes – and even its title – tie into the core concepts behind my entire practice as an artist. Like Meursault, I’ve always felt like a foreigner, both within my own culture and as an expatriate. As a Texan who always felt out of place there, I immigrated to France where I lived for a decade and became a naturalized citizen. I later immigrated to Japan for several years, and now live in New York City. In all of these places, I have encountered dogmas of many shapes and sizes; some of them religious, some of them based on appearances and gender expectations. I long ago came to the conclusion that absolutism of any kind is flawed and dangerous. While Meursault’s choices and attitudes don’t represent my own, his acceptance of the ultimate absurdity of life is a kind of antidote to the forces that seek to “win hearts and minds” or save eternal souls. He resists their agendas to the very end. Instead of veering into nihilism, I use my artistic practice as a means of celebrating the richness of each culture that shaped me; showing the beauty of allowing them to coexist peacefully with no one eradicating the other three.
SM: Kafka, because I knew the work best. He was Austrian like me, I can relate to his imagery best.
SC: I chose The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka for a variety of absurd reasons. One, being that my radical choice of micro feminism is to not read books written by men, since about 2014,(controversial I know, and I have made exceptions for a few such as Tommy Orange, yet, as a good student, I was forced to read The Metamorphosis at least 3 times through my formal education. I never enjoyed the text one. I thought Gregor was a selfish prick and Greta was cast as the villain, the wicked spider woman. This theory was never taken well by my teachers or professors. I was “missing the point.” Well. I think it is absurd that a text about gender identity, gender roles, and mental health, is so completely cast aside for a canonized white male scholar perspective.
I respect Kafka for his work. And even found evidence that he did not expect The Metamorphosis to be interpreted in the light. So I think the real absurdity of it all is that we still fall in line with outdated interpretations of media that demonize, ignore, or erase women’s stories and perspectives.
What do you feel about the shape constraint?
JS: While the physical and conceptual ideas attached to circular things often arise in my work, I have not previously, consciously, used it for my work. It was a great experiment to consciously integrate the shape as a foundation vs as an outcome.
LF: The shape constraint helped me to narrow down the materials I wanted to use for creating the artwork. I think a circular composition allows the viewers eye to move around the piece so there is a constant flow of movement.
MCB: At first, the shape constraint felt very limiting. It’s funny how we are used to thinking in “rectangles”, maybe because we usually start things from a blank piece of paper or fabric. But this limitation actually helped me to get to the final idea. Had it not been for this constraint, I’m sure I’d not have opted for the round mirror. I believe that, in the end, this limitation was an amazing tool to make me think outside the box (literally).
NCA: Because my work pulls from many sources and weaves together a lot of different materials, I appreciate the constraint.
SM: I love it.
SC: I love the circle concept. I have been itching to make something in this direction and I think it is going to make for a fresh and exciting installation.
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?
JS: The challenge was creating something that was distinctly mine and used the materials and concepts that I usually use in my work, but also create something within these new boundaries offered through the brief. This meant that I underwent many (unsuccessful) material tests before finding my final form. For me, the material creates meaning and finding the right material to speak was an exploratory process.
LF: When I create a coil weaving, I get into a flow state, almost like a meditation. I can work for hours intuitively without focusing on specific thoughts. It is very calming and can help to provide clarity for my life.
MCB: Since the Blindness portrays a society that has their base suddenly swept away from their feet, leaving the characters lost, insecure and even in despair, I wanted the textile piece to have its own support destroyed, hence the use of water soluble interface. Working with that is fiddly. Doing so by hand even more. It forces you to work slowly, and to be always careful that you do not tear the fabric, for instance. You need to be constantly mindful that you’re stitching into something that will eventually vanish. Since there’s no support for the final embroidery, there was a need to use the needle to create thread overlaps, knots and other ways to make the overall embroidery “survive" after the water soluble interface is gone. Just making stitches in the usual way means the whole thing would fall apart once wet. So the process itself felt Absurd: like stitching into air. The overall feeling was that of not having control. I was always unsure about what the final piece would look like, since I'd only get to see it once all the stitching was finished and the soluble interface was gone.
NCA: I’m often considering the formal qualities of the piece I’m making; whether it feels balanced, intriguing, dynamic or calming. When sewing by hand, I’m aware of how the silk, thread, denim, or horsehair feels in my hands. The best moments are those when my fingers work seemingly independent of my brain and my mind can wander freely. The repetition of hand sewing has always led to a pleasant flow state, but now that I’m no longer working in fashion, it’s even more satisfying. I’m free to follow the curves and planes of my materials without having to consider its interaction with the wearer of a garment.
SM: I found the process of making the pieces fun and doing the embroidery really relaxing. I did all the embroidery on my commute. I go twice a week to the city with the train to a Bone Marrow Unit to do art with the patients and staff. The embroidery helped me center myself after some difficult days.
SC: Making this work, was very tedious. I don’t think anyone would believe how long it took me to bead and sew this piece. I spent a lot of time thinking about women’s work, the art of the stitch, the prick of the finger, the ache of the back, and the effort to make something beautiful from scraps. As I have a sustainable practice, this piece is made entire from fabric scraps, Upcycled jewelry, and found materials. I think of the lineage of labor for domestic crafts, the horrors of the textile industry, and textile and plastic waste- all tracing back to women’s work. All tracing back to Greta leaving the home to put bread on the table for her family and becoming an independent woman.
What inspires you?
JS: This work is an extension of my body of work “Endless Second Chances”, I am inspired by materials and things that have nowhere to go. The fear that things and stories will be lost drives me to create work. I look for small things, small voices, small stories and hope to bring them into focus.
LF: I’m inspired by the ways in which nature, architecture and history weave together to tell stories of people and the places they call home because I believe that home is a place where our multiple identities can coexist in harmony. Through my work I use art as a tool for communication and interpersonal connection, creating a bridge between the past and the present.
MCB: I’m inspired by things that spread. Natural things, like branches on a tree, rust growing on an old tool, little streams that deviate from a major body of water. But also artificial things: data visualization, for instance. I guess I like the constant play between chaos and order. Of finding patterns on things that, at first glance, seem to be random. My piece tries to portray how the “white blindness” from Saramago’s book would spread. Saramago describes the phenomenon like this: "The blindness was spreading, not like a sudden tide that flooded everything and swept it away, but like an insidious infiltration of a thousand and one lively rivulets that, having slowly soaked the earth, suddenly drowned it completely.”.
NCA: I am inspired by shapes, volumes and textures that call to mind the places that I’ve lived. The materials I use in my current series are autobiographical and central to this body of work. Jeans and horsehair represent my childhood in Texas, the daughter of a horse trainer. The bands of painted "bolducs," a cotton tape used to mark off sections on a dressmaker's mannequin, are representative of my years living and working in Paris fashion. Silk recovered from damaged vintage kimonos is a nod to the three years I spent living in Japan. And thermoplastic, which I used to make the spikes sticking out of the pocket in this artwork, is a versatile material that represents New York City, a place where I feel free to take whatever form I choose.
SM: Everything.
SC: I am inspired by women’s stories. I was raised my a strong matriarchal family whose stories shape who I am. I am interested in hearing, sharing, and creating all of these stories from the women before me, with me, and after me.
Can you let us know about three fiber artists who have helped shape your work?
JS: Louise Bourgeois, Joseph Jacquard, Joana Vasconcelos
LF: I'm inspired by El Anatsui's large fiber like installations made out of found and disposable materials. He creates beautiful textiles from detritus. Another artist who has inspired me is Sheila Hicks, her large installations are fun and colorful and I love to see fiber art in such a large scale, taking up space in the contemporary art sphere. A third artist is Jorge Gonzalez from Puerto Rico who has studied traditional weaving techniques and uses these to create contemporary works and installations. Jorge's work inspires me because he uses history and tradition to inform his contemporary work, similar to what I am doing with my coil weavings.
MCB: I really like the work of Mexican artist Gabriela Martínez, from Ofelia & Antelmo Studio. She uses really simple stitches and repeats them endlessly until they turn into something intricate and organic. Other artists that inspire me are Gisoo Kim and Chiharu Shiota. With simple materials and a monochromatic palette, they reshape things and create whole new universes
NCA: Judy Chicago (for the incredibly well-researched elements such as embroidered table linens in The Dinner Party), Sheila Hicks (for the scale and color of her abstract works), and Liz Collins (for her use of fringe and geometric patterns). Also – Claes Oldenburg for his “soft sculptures” made of fabric and vinyl.
SM: I am not a fiber artist and to be honest I don’t know too many other artists. Of course no one is an island, but I can’t really source any artist who shaped my work.
SC: I was a fan girl of Erica Spitzer Rasmussen’s work with fiber, hand paper making, and garment sculptures. She became my mentor through grad school, and I am still inspired by her every day. Louise Bourgeois, clearly evident here in my chosen symbolism. I refer to Harmony Hammond a lot as well. The list could go on!