Ghada Amer
I was angry – RFGA, 2020
Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas
Text transcription:
“I was angry about the human talent that was lost just because it was born into a female body and the mediocrity that was rewarded because it was born into a male one.”
Text transcription:
“I was angry about the human talent that was lost just because it was born into a female body and the mediocrity that was rewarded because it was born into a male one.”
Bumped into her work while looking through my Great Women Artists book> I find it magnetic and profound and with the edge of commerciality that makes it extremely pleasant to look at while tackling all the itching issues that make me so angry. I think the anger also resonates here as I have been so angry so often in the recent months and trying to find ways to express it somehow while also not being able to hide it from people in my closest family. I am constantly worried I have picked a route that is too difficult for me, that I’m getting all tangled up in it.
Thinking if I should rework this painting using embroidery and thread hanging off like the threads in Amer’s works…
After a very interesting conversation with the handyman, who comes occasionally to fix things in our studios, he recommended to try hanging it vertically which I thought was very interesting so trying this out as well and imagining threads in the colours of the stripes hanging off it
I spent the weekend in the studio finishing Mother: poured some paint in the middle as, agreeing with my son’s opinion, I did not like the dirty yellow in the middle and wanted to make it more vibrant with some red, neon pink and neon orange as well as I wanted to have a wet paint base for the thread head. I then experimented dropping the thread onto the paint and was quite happy with the result, it looked slightly out of control spontaneous, messy and dynamic but also I felt I had some level of control. I then added the sentences around the head, changed some of them around as wasn’t sure if they were uncomfortable enough/too uncomfortable?
I want to combine thread, drawing, writing, paint and knitting in my fridge door triptich and currently experimenting with Mother, thinking if I should just leave the tangled up head with the “helpful” sentences of advice, or add a drawing/an embroidery of body bending to help out child who is learnign how to walk(reminds me of my grandmother with my son) and adding two additional children climbing on her shoulders while she’s bending down
Questions: do I draw her or do I embroider?
