Down Under, 2009
Sculpture, 184 x 125 x 8 cm.
©image: M HKA
Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. M00132).
The work Down Under, 2009 presents several objects lying on the floor. They look like colourful duvets. The artist had bought them from poor women craft tailors, who had been making them to make a living, more than 30 years ago. The women, in turn, were using patchwork techniques to sew together fabric remnants or used fabric materials they had found elsewhere. Some of the fabrics resemble mourning patterns, and some are reminiscent of peaceful landscapes. The red water pipe grounding the textile introduces a feeling of disturbance, of a violent intervention to the naive and innocent appearance of the handmade installation. Nevertheless, the textile object remains the first colourful spot catching the visitors’ eye, a centre of attention, resisting the violence of the industrial object. This work shows the importance of collecting important things, the artefacts, with the aim of researching, saving, protecting, preserving, and rethinking one's own culture.
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Artist
> Sheela Gowda.
Exhibitions & Ensembles
> Exhibition: The collection XXXIII – The Collection as a Character. M HKA, Antwerpen, 07 June 2013 - 22 September 2013.
> Exhibition: Textiles – Art and the Social Fabric. M HKA, Antwerpen, 10 September 2009 - 03 January 2010.
> Exhibition: Superdemocracy – The Senate of Things. de Senaat, Brussel, 01 October 2017 - 31 October 2017.
> Exhibition: When Faith Moves Mountains. PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, 17 July 2022 - 09 October 2022.
> Exhibition: Worth Fighting For. Oskar Jager Strasse 97-99, Keulen, 14 November 2022 - 14 December 2022.
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> Ensemble: M HKA_DEFAULT_WORKS.
> Ensemble: NUCLEUS.
> Ensemble: SANTHAL FAMILY.
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> Ensemble: Down Under.
> Ensemble: TEKSTVERZORGING / TOILETTAGE DES TEXTES / TEXT QUALITY / TEXTPFLEGE.
> Ensemble: SUPERDEMOCATIE / SUPERDEMOKRATIE / SUPERDEMOCRACY.
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> Ensemble: Space of World Making .
> Ensemble: Worth Fighting For.