Article 4

Helen Fraser

website@moadoph.gov.au — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 02:41:45 +0000

Helen Fraser website@moadop… Fri, 10/12/2018 - 13:41

Both a contemporary artist and a psychologist/psychoanalytic psychotherapist, Helen Fraser creates art that connects the past to the present using symbols that can lead to healing and change. She melds her love of textiles with psychology by creating drawings of textiles that act as a metaphor for the human condition. She also creates embroidered and quilted textiles and her work is held in private and public collections in Australia, the United States, Canada and Italy. Her fourth solo exhibition, Tassels and Fragments, was recently held at Falkner Gallery, Castlemaine, Victoria.

Helen became interested in craftivism after joining the You are So Beautiful project in Melbourne. From there she contributed to the Nasty Women New York exhibition and developed an online exhibition for the Nasty Women Everywhere project. As craftivism is slow work, she likes the way it provides time to think and gives space for relationships to develop at a natural pace. The opportunity to join the #UDHquilt Project has further solidified her commitment to this way of working as part of her artistic practice. Her dream is to coordinate a large-scale craftivism project to enhance understanding of Australia’s slave history and the legacy within the Australian South Sea Islander (ASSI) community.

In addition Helen offers regular commissions, creates custom drawings, and sells her work regularly via exhibitions, stockists, her website, Instagram and studio visits by appointment. Her interests and influences include textiles, embroidery, human rights and everyday democracy, running, psychoanalytic literature, community psychology, gardening and conversations.

Helen Fraser

English

Australia

English, Scottish, German

I stumbled across this project when I was researching indigo cloth and its connection to the transatlantic slave trade. I selected a piece of vintage indigo cloth from Japan made in 1948—the year the UDHR was written.

Through my block I have attempted to bring awareness to Australia’s hidden slave history, namely ‘blackbirding’. South Sea Islanders were lured, tricked and kidnapped to work on Queensland’s sugar plantations or in the maritime industry between 1863 and 1904. I felt shocked and saddened that I didn’t learn this at school.

I am continuing to learn a great deal since I completed my block. I can see that indigenous people around the world need support and respect for their healing and the ongoing spiritual, emotional, physical and relational impact of colonisation. I have sought out conversations and as a result, a wider sense of community is developing in my real life and inner world. This has been life-changing.

UDHR Article

Article 4

Quilt

Red quilt

Jessica Wohl

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 04:00:51 +0000

Jessica Wohl website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 15:00

Jessica Wohl received her Bachelor of Fine Art from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2001 and her Master of Fine Art from the University of Georgia in 2010.

Jessica’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Belfast Photo Festival, the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Robert Mann Gallery in New York and the Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville. Her work has also been exhibited at venues in Miami, New Orleans, Kansas City, England, Finland, Norway, Italy, Hong Kong and Korea, and has recently been featured in New American Paintings, Vogue, and ArtNews. Her work is in the collections of the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, the Sprint-Nextel Corporation, the H&R Block World Headquarters, numerous private collectors and is included in the Drawing Center’s Viewing Program. She is participating in the Artist Residency in Motherhood, and is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of the South, where she teaches drawing and painting.

Jessica Wohl

English

United States of America

American

This block highlights the relationship between Article 4 and the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, which reads, ‘Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States’. The orange background recalls prison uniforms, and the white text on a police height chart calls to mind the link between imprisonment and slavery.

I am outraged by America’s skyrocketing mass incarceration. People can be imprisoned for years before being convicted. With white Americans predominantly in charge of the government and criminal justice system, and the vast majority of prisoners being people of colour, some may say the 13th Amendment’s loophole allows for a legal exchange of slavery for imprisonment. As a resident of Tennessee, where the Confederate flag still flies, I consider it on a daily basis. Article 4 is being violated, every day, millions of times over, in the United States.

UDHR Article

Article 4

Quilt

Green quilt

Lisa Wilkie

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:22:50 +0000

Lisa Wilkie website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:22

Lisa Wilkie is interested in the intersections of art, power, and violence, and how dominant discourses can be subverted and disrupted. In addition to this, she is also interested in finding a good dry riesling, swimming in the sea, and adding to her vintage kimono collection.

She has an eclectic background that includes studies in German language and literature, art history and theory, and fine arts; two years ago she graduated with a Master of Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Otago. Her dissertation explored the use of visual/written/oral texts by three Māori prophets as a means of political dissent, resistance, and subversion of cultural hegemonies.

When not working as an art consultant/curator, Lisa is surrounded by many, many stitching and sewing projects that are in varying stages of (non)-completion. She has one gorgeous 18-year-old son and one gregarious Bengal cat, and would love to be a full-time thinker and maker of things.

Lisa Wilkie

English

New Zealand

New Zealander of Pākehā descent

As a Pākēha New Zealander, my place in this country was gained through invasion and deception. Many New Zealanders know next to nothing about the history of this land and of the broader impact of colonisation in the Pacific.

One of the stories that has been glossed over is the practice of ‘blackbirding’, a form of indentured servitude/slavery that was practised throughout the Pacific region in the 19th century. By acknowledging the existence of alternate Pacific histories, I hope in some tiny way to provide a departure point for others to seek out and listen to the voices that have been silenced.

UDHR Article

Article 4

Quilt

Blue quilt

Willemien de Villiers

website@moadoph.gov.au — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 05:45:21 +0000

Willemien de Villiers website@moadop… Mon, 10/15/2018 - 16:45

I am a South African artist and writer, living and working in Muizenberg, Cape Town.

I was born during the very repressed era of Apartheid. Growing up in a completely segregated and separated community rooted in me a longing for connection and integration; something I continue to seek for in my art-making.

With hindsight, I now realise that the secret, unseen world of all living matter—first glimpsed under the microscope in my 10th-grade biology class—provided an alternative narrative to the one I was living: on a microscopic level, everything is connected.

I am still drawn to that which lies below the surface; hidden, obscured. I find the secret, pulsating world of plants especially inspiring; their relentless drive to procreate and thrive—or sometimes merely survive—is so similar to ours.

Sewing by hand demands patience and time. It is a form of meditation. A devotional act. It creates an emotional space to connect with memories, dreams, the day’s news, a friend’s tragedy. My current themes explore the issues of intimate partner violence, gender identity, misogyny and patriarchy.
While stitching, I feel connected to all the individuals, I assume mostly women, who have worked on the cloth before me. I like to imagine their circumstances and stories. Whether they were willing workers/embroiderers, or whether they were resentful and working from a sense of duty. The act of stitching can be a violent one—needles are very sharp—and indeed, blood sometimes flows. Whenever I accidentally prick myself, I always let the drops seep into the cloth I’m busy with, adding one more stain to the collective memory it carries.

Willemien de Villiers

Afrikaans

South Africa

South African, of Dutch and German descent

Note: Willemien accidentally sewed Article 1, not Article 4. In such a complex international project, such things are bound to happen. We’re only human!

As an introverted artist, you won’t find me on the streets, protesting the ills of the world. Craftivism suits my personality and talents, which is why I leapt at the chance to contribute to this powerful project.

The themes in my work have always centred on feminist issues; challenging and highlighting the skewed power dynamics of patriarchy by using craft techniques seen as stereotypically female. I stitch my stories by hand on found, stained and torn domestic textiles. My inspiration comes from police reports of domestic abuse, to stories told by friends and strangers. I also strive to celebrate the intrinsic goodness and compassion all human beings share, and to start a conversation about how we can move closer together.

The most vulnerable people in South African society are women and girls. Our entrenched patriarchal system means many women are still seen as property. Our national rape statistics are incredibly high, and despite having one of the world’s most enlightened constitution, many South Africans’ human rights are not protected.

UDHR Article

Article 4

Quilt

Yellow quilt