Talk and Workshops by Womanifesto – International Art Exchange in collaboration with SEA JUNCTION

WeMend is an ongoing social and workshop space inviting visitors and community groups to join in the ongoing activity to sew/embroider/patch/upcycle pieces of fabric together.

Background

WeMend is a project by Womanifesto – International Art Exchange (Thailand) and was first installed for the exhibition Womanifesto: Flowing Connections at Bangkok Art & Culture Center from September to December 2023. As a continuation, we are inviting the setting up of further workshops in various locations, such in Thailand (Bangkok and Udon Thani), Baroda (India), Tokyo (Japan), Sydney (Australia), Herzfelde (Germany, Dundee (UK), and within women’s community spaces in the UAE.  In Bangkok, it is organized in collaboration with SEA Junction at its public venue.

The cloths coming together in various sites will be merged as one continuous piece bringing all the fragments together, and installed as a shelter-like structure in exhibition spaces that Womanifesto is invited to, where visitors are also invited to continue attaching patches and make the fabric grow, starting with Sharjah Biennale 16 in 2025.

Engaging in this meditative hands-on activity with sewing at its core, is to nurture linkages with each other and in turn with all that surrounds us. In our fragmented times, WeMend offers time and space to slow down – to commune, converse, repair and connect – individually and collectively contemplate on both material and non-materials matters in our lives.

Panel Discussion Speaker

  1. Penwadee Nophaket Manont, Head of Exhibition Department & Chief Curator, BACC and Womanifesto Artist.
  2. Jamilah Preenun Nana, Independent Curator and Womanifesto Artist
  3. Lawan Jirasuradej, Film Maker and Womanifesto Artist

Organizations:

Womanifesto was established by a group of women artists, writers and activists with the aim of hosting gatherings every two years of women artists from Asian and other countries. It is one of the first feminist collectives of its kind to have emerged and developed from Southeast Asia, and continues to provide significant opportunities for women artists and cultural practitioners to connect and re-connect.

Starting with presenting group exhibitions in 1997 and 1999, Womanifesto instantly took on a life of its own and transformed into a meeting and sharing point based on friendship and care. While the original aim was to present exhibitions to strengthen links between and the visibility of women artists from the region and beyond, that aim developed to include exploration and valuing of local cultures including artisanship, to explore links between.

traditional and contemporary traditional and contemporary art practices. It has expanded its horizon to various project based workshops, residency programmes, web-based, email based art publication, symposiums, seminars, educational programmes, working with artists, artisans, and schools  in rural areas. Adopting fluidity as a strategy, Womanifesto developed projects to consider and open up diverse ways of doing by not setting final outcomes but supporting for things to evolve organically, with the focus also being on exchange and passing on of knowledge down the generations. www.womanifesto.com.

SEA Junction, established under the Thai non-profit organization Foundation for Southeast Asia Studies (ForSEA), aims to foster understanding and appreciation of Southeast Asia in all its socio-cultural dimensions, from arts and lifestyles to economy and development. Conveniently located at Room 407 and 408 of the Bangkok Arts and Culture Center or BACC (across MBK, BTS National Stadium), SEA Junction facilitates public access to knowledge resources and exchanges among students, practitioners and Southeast Asia lovers. For more information, see www.seajunction.org, join the Facebook group:  http://www.facebook.com/groups/1693058870976440/ and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @seajunction.

 

Photo Credit: SEA Junction’s Team