These two works were conceived at about the same time, hence the same title. They both deal with not only physical space but also psychological space and question the relegation of women’s space to the domestic.
Restless performance starts with the figure motionless, camouflaged to the wall. She moves tentatively, negotiating the space around her, breaking up the pattern of the wallpaper and forming new ones at the same time. Her movements become more rapid and she finds it more and more difficult to fit into her prescribed space. Eventually, she breaks away and steps out of the wallpaper. On another level, this work attempts to address the high Modernist’s rejection of the multi-skilled/interdisciplinary artist by combining painting and performance (hybrid). The painting done on the ephemeral body highlights the temporal nature of performance art itself. The work contradicts the traditional relationship between the figure and ground, by giving the background as much emphasis as the subject/object, in other words, by denying the viewer the view.
Restless
Installation (Left) and Performance (Right)
1999
