Search This Blog

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Amanda Heng "Another Woman" 1996





8 comments:

  1. Having herself and her mother presented in nude shows the understanding between women, probably literally and mentally. Her work address the relationship between people, mostly women and deals with memory in the course of self-discovery. I preferred her work without the clothing being hung there as to me, the clothes are kinda distracting.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmm, pictures of her and mummy nude is to show the relationship between her and her mum. She seeks to find personal identity in most of her works, and is quite a feminist i should say...... usually comprises of household objects and items that reflects the female gender or even cultural aspects. I think it's good because it really does shows the connection and strains between her and her mum. Even tho both are nude (identities are naked and both can see thru each other?), but they still have their distance between them. (i suppose they hang the clothes is to show that, whether or not are they nude or clothed, there is alwys, and will alwys be a distance between them.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. There is a strange feeling when I look at this work. The distance between these 2 women is like "I think I should be nearer to you, but I don't really want to/I'm afraid to", which makes it really awkward to look at. Furthermore, both of them are facing each other, but from their facial expressions, it seems like they have no recognition of the other party. Also, because they are facing each other, it makes the viewer feels like he is intruding into their personal space, he is out of place and should not be there.

    To add on to the awkwardness of this work, the hanging clothes are right in the middle of the space, with no support, and just translucent strings holding them up, yet, it is volumised by unseen things. It is ghostly, awkward, odd...

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. The artwork consists of mainly a large photograph of nude subjects are the artist, Amanda Heng and her mother (showing us their side profiles) staring at each other. This instillation is an alternative display of the original instillation which comprises of additional photographs of the performance art and household objects. However, in this artwork, the clothes worn by the artist and her mother during the performance art were also being displayed in a way suspended in the mid-air........

    2.Her work is dealing with the clashing of eastern and western values, traditions and gender roles in the context of a multi-cultural and fast-changing society of Singapore. In this work, she focuses on the issues of communication and human relationships. This work was meant to deepen the communication between her and her mother, as women, and as human beings, not as mother and daughter relation. Also, to show the reconnection and acceptance between her and her mother.

    3. Like Chia Xing, I find the clothes that were suspended in the mid-air in front of the photograph rather disturbing. But I like the creativity of the artwork and how the artist brings out her main idea through the work. ('cause in the past most parents do not really know how to communicate with their children, let alone educate them. And also, most parents do not know how to express their love and care for their children. Thus it was a rather bold and simple way of the work expressing the artist's idea considering the context of 1996 when the work was produced.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1.The artwork consist of a large photograph that includes nude subjects of a mother and a daughter with little expression.There is then an assemblage of clothes which is a distance away from the photograph, and yet in perfect alignment with the photograph at the same time. Lastly, there is also a presence of space in between the two women.

    2.The artist aims to portray the understanding of her self-identity,explores her relationship with her mother (by depicting the distance between the two women while portraying a sense of closeness at the same time),the positioning of family structure and the means to investigate memory, as well as the physical distance women have among one another, especially in the family (as evident by the distancing of the two subjects while having a sense of closeness through the gaze the subjects have on each other).

    3.I like the artwork pretty much because of the clever use of spacing and perspectives. The clothes of the two woman and the photograph are in a perfect alignment. Although the two women though are not touching in other, they seem to have a sense of closeness between them. However, the artwork is rather bold and disturbing with the hanging of clothes in the mid-air instead of placing it near the photograph.

    ReplyDelete
  6. this artwork is quite disturbing with the hanging of the clothes just to show the different age group .(seen through the pattern and design of the type clothes that different age group would wear.) the fact that there was the photograph of herself and her mother , it didnot really give me the idea of what she was trying to convey(okay maybe i didnt interpret much) but still it does not appeal to me .the message was not send across to me..hehe.
    i do howeevr sense good use of space to create the "gap" between the artist and her mother which I kind of like.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chia Xing, Philina, Peggy and Marilyn, good insights.

    ReplyDelete
  8. ***YING LING SAID:

    1. This work consist a large photograph of nude subjects of mother and daughter. Their clothes are being hanged as installations in front of the their photograph. Without looking at the photograph, the clothes seem like its floating, as though the bodies are invisible.

    2. Personal identity is seen as a central source of imagery. This work explores Heng's r/s with her mother, and at the same time explores the positioning of women within family structures. The title "Another women" suggests that women are not being identified as who they are, but just in a general term of women. They are equal to other women, as though they have no identity and no voice in the patriarchal society. The distance of Heng's image and her mother's, suggests a form of alienation and unfamiliarity with one another. Therefore, it is like looking at "another woman", not either one's mother or daughter. However, this way they are facing each other is as though they are looking into the mirror, Perhaps Heng wants to highlight the resemblance of her mother and herself.

    3. I like this work as the "floating" clothes symbolises a kind of weightlessness of the two women, as not having their own identify highlights their insignificance. Also, implying that they have no weight (say) in the patriarchal society. The "floating" clothes act as an allegory to the notion of women and their identity

    ReplyDelete