Anatomy of the Bow
Künstler/in
Luiza Margan
(geb. 1983 in Rijeka, Kroatien)
Date2012
ClassificationsVideo
Medium2 Videos auf DVD-R und USB-Stick, PAL, 3:4, SD, B/W, sound, loop und master copy
Paper Support2-teilig
Dimensions5 min 7 sec 160ms; 5 min 7 sec 520 ms
Credit LineArtothek des Bundes
Object number27647
DescriptionThe work Anatomy of the Bow is a research process initiated at the residency program in Seoul, South Korea, in which I reassess traditional patriarchal structures that are, despite strong technological advances and modernization, still heavily present within the society. The video, Anatomy of the Bow: Speakers, was created by sequencing materials from the photo-archive of the Korean Women Workers Organization (from the period from 1987 to 2010). The video, made of archive photographs, creates a moving picture of a fragile social body: we can see the women speak, but their voices remain silent. The assemblage of photos of women taking part in public speeches is combined with the voice-over reading of an excerpt from the Dictee, written in 1982 by a Korean-American writer Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, a text that almost anatomically describes the ability and struggles of speech as a bodily experience from the female perspective. For the series of photographs, Anatomy of the Bow, I approached passers-by in the urban space Seoul, with a proposal to engage in a short performative action which I photographed. I explain to the couples that the action's objective is to assess the traditional roles of women and men and show their interrelation. The photo narrative uses a specific body language within public space in order to question the traditional roles and ways power is distributed and perceived within society. It critically approaches to the position of women and its ambiguity: it on one hand it emphasizes the equality and strength of women, but in the same time speaks about their submissiveness and undervalued position. Anatomy of the Bow uses the public space for dissecting traditional relationships, thereby momentarily provoking the existing hierarchies.
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