#fac residency

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MEET THE FAC 2018 RESIDENCY ARTISTS: SHIVA MOGHADDASI

Why is it important for you to explore ageism? How is this connected to your feminism?

Since I was a child I was drawn to stories told by older women in my family. Their lush gray hair, quiet voice, and fragile skin were different and attracted me. I was fascinated by the amount of stories they knew by heart. Now this was before the time of Internet and access to information. Books, TV and radio were the only windows to the big outside world and I was a big reader too. But meeting a senior woman with all the knowledge she held was like accessing “Google”! Later in life I found myself volunteering and joining art & craft guilds where I met wonderful, talented and active seniors. I had a different and richer experience now that I was an adult myself. We formed close bonds and I highly cherish these new friendships. Then a few years ago my elderly parent’s health started to decline and they moved in with me. Caring for them, now I find myself witnessing firsthand how the system and the society deal with the issue of ageing and sexism when it comes to male and female seniors.Thinking about my own ageing process in years to come, the thought of sexism and ageism in our culture frightens me. I thought long and hard about this newly found fear inside of me and I am exploring and processing it through my art.

Cover me _ Support me

In your artist statement, you comment on aging and discrimination, and also on the issue that textile are regularly used but go unnoticed, and are historically made by women and require time and craftsmanship to produce. Can you elaborate? Why Textile?

As a textile artist I find textile a very far-reaching medium. As I said in my artist statement textile have been historically made by women for use in their households. women spun, dye, weave, sew and make all fabric used in the household by all members of their family. They put creativity and skill into making textile that their families needed.However nowadays we see the medium being used in non-traditional places such as in art installations and industrial sites to name a few. I believe textile with its rich past and direct reference to women, as its historical creator is a great medium to convey my message of discrimination and ageism towards women. What better material to use in showing discrimination against women than what they have been working with so intimately and skilfully for centuries.  

Awakening _ Ageing

What do you hope viewers will take away from your art?

My work is about exploring the journey of life and ageing and as a textile artist I work with textile medium. Making handmade textile takes time and craftsmanship. I put my handmade textile object(s) through a secondary abusive process using them as they were intended and beyond! Giving them life and make them live that life! The complete process is documented by photos and videography accompanying textile work. I am asking my viewers to critically ponder on the process of change. Should the journey of life and ageing be feared when we look at the process?I intend to open the dialogue about aging, values and society’s perspective as we witness the increase in our aging population. We are the spectacles and the question is what will we be doing about it.

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MEET THE FAC 2018 RESIDENCY ARTISTS: KATIE OTT

You use everyday furniture, yarn, and written text to comment on societal issues born by the patriarchy. What drove you to use these materials? Can you speak to the interplay between the materials and techniques that you use?

I would consider the act of building furniture to be a feminist act in itself. The woodworking and furniture community has traditionally been a male dominated field like many of the trades. Using a piece of furniture as a catalyst I incorporate textile materials to create a dialogue between two craft mediums that are highly gendered: Wood as masculine, textile as feminine. Likewise, in spoken and written text there are gendered patterns and connotations. Text is a particularly powerful tool. We use text to make our voices heard in a crowd with protest signs and letters to congress members. While a piece of furniture may not evoke conflict in its presentation, text is confrontational and that is what makes it so appealing.

Unravelled: The yarn top of this low table slowly becomes undone. The work is representative of the struggle to maintain composure in a society where the odds are stacked against you.

In your artist statement, you explain that tables are "passive objects within the context of our daily routines" but they "carry the tremendous emotional and social weight of facilitating various gatherings." Can you speak to the significance of creating tables and using them to display messages about rape culture (in "Victim Blaming" and "Locker Room Talk")?

Tables are a great furniture form to explore because there are so many colloquial expressions that accompany them. In “Victim Blaming” and “Locker Room Talk” I considered the act of keeping something ‘under the table’. In this case the reality of rape culture. As they present on the outside, both tables appear to be fully functional, unassuming end tables, but ‘when the tables are turned,’ the ugly truth is revealed underneath. Society at large often acts in a passive fashion in regard to rape culture.  With these tables I want to highlight the deception that is occurring in a society that blames victims and celebrates criminal behavior. It is the normalization created by rape culture that deceives society into believing this behavior is normal, much like the deception created within these table forms.

Locker Room Talk: This table presents as a normal table, but what lies beneath is a terrible truth about the reality of our president and his views on women.

How are you going to further incorporate textiles in your work? What is their significance?

In my most recent work I have been exploring pantyhose and other nylon textiles. I am interested in the elasticity and translucence of pantyhose as a material, as well as the gendered connotations of these foundation garments. I have been exploring the visual tension the pantyhose can offer a sculptural composition by using them as support structures for furniture. The tension and tenacity of pantyhose signifies the strength and resilience of women and non-binary individuals within the patriarchy, while additionally exploring the expectations and presentations of gender.

Do those legs go all the way up?: An absurdly tall table exploring the relationship between furniture and the human body.