"What is Enough", which opens today at Jam, 6pm, is a collaboration between Pooja Kishnani, Jda Jda and Samantha Marion. The exhibition is their response to the changing tides of femininity in society. Kishnani explores the question using pens, markers and paint, answering with the drawings she has been creating over the last three years. Jda jda subverts the question by using objects and contemporary cultural references, delivered in digital mediums and installation pieces. While, Marion dives deep into colour as part of her daily meditative practice and replies to the question with her vibrant watercolour and acrylic paintings.
They invite people to be a part of the unfolding, continuously evolving and deeply personal answer to the question "What is Enough?", on their Facebook page at bit.ly/2ztJ3G0 through any medium they choose.
How did the exhibition come to light?
Jda: I approached Pooja about doing an exhibition about women artists knowing that we are creative souls. And Pooja introduced me to another creative soul, Samantha, and that was the beginning of three women coming together to have an exhibition where we could explore a question and interpret it with our different styles of work. There is this thing with being a woman in the world and what is enough as far as aesthetics and ideals go. In my art practice, I play a lot with consumerism and what it means in society, so I feel that there is never enough. The question 'what is enough?' resonates because there is never enough, the demands are always great.
Kishnani: We were thinking about the theme for the exhibition and were talking about all our artwork and what was the reason behind our artwork. For me, the word 'enough' came up quite often. What is enough? When is it enough to be a woman? Because a lot of my artwork is about unlearning things. I start at a point where I felt completely conditioned as a person, to have a perfect job and a perfect life -- things that society saw as valuable but I wasn't happy. It was enough for society but not for me. The question for me was 'what is enough for me?' and my artwork journey was discovering that. The question is for female and male audiences. For men, it is to see what women face. For women, it is something to relate to. It is not specifically for women alone.
Marion: The question 'What is enough?' is perfect for us. We were talking in a round-robin way where each of us took turns and listened to each other about what we wanted to bring to the table. We are different artists, so the question can be explored differently. 'What is enough?' has been exploring the topic 'what is enough time' for me to create art, so I have been exploring the times to create. I create before work, after work and during my lunch break.
Sisters by Samantha Marion. Samantha Marion
How would you describe the changing tides of femininity in words?
Marion: I grew up believing that a woman should act in one way or should spend her time in one way, and I have really been able to design that for myself -- what it means to be a feminine woman in today's society. But I have to put myself first even when taking care of my family, because then we are all taken care of. It is when we try to put everyone else's needs above our own that we seek validation. The fact that I am producing art every day and have made time for this art every day for the last four years, is proof of the fact. My artwork Sisters are two women mediating, facing each other. The idea is that we can see each other, as we are, and look at both, our light and dark. The colours show that every part of our experience is important and to be seen is part of the healing process. The changing tides is more of a collection of women coming together rather than an individual.
Kishnani: My day job is dealing with gender issues, women's rights and feminism. I travel around the world meeting women and getting to know the challenges they face and help them with gender equality. A lot of the time it is about unlearning things that the patriarchy has put upon us. My artwork reflects that because it shows a journey that most women go through where, at first, you feel like you're stuck in a box and that's defined you in society. It is about discovering yourself, knowing what your needs are and creating a life that you want.
Jda: I play a lot with digital representation of women and femininity and take inspiration from other artists where they re-represent what it is to be a woman, to be a feminist woman in society. I feel like the word is a returning of the gaze in a digital era where we have gone from perhaps, having the gaze put upon us from classical painting to then subverting the gaze and then on top of that, re-subvert the gaze to a digital platform. As far as changing tides, it is always representing what's current, what's being shared on social media, what's being put on us through advertising and subverting the gaze back to the audience. That's the next progression.
Buy Dreams by Jda Jda. Jda Jda
What do you expect the exhibition to achieve?
Jda: I am excited for it to be a platform for women to come together and display the works they have been involved with. It is to encourage other women to have a similar platform to share things where they feel comfortable, to feel inspired.
Marion: To be seen and to encourage others to be seen, regardless of gender. If you have something that you love and care about and it is important to you, it is also going to be important to other people. This is the universal message. Us coming together with different visions shows this. We want to engage the audience and to get people to embrace their uniqueness, but also work together towards a common goal.
Kishnani: The question is also relevant to men, because with men they have different conditionings. With men, the conditioning is to be masculine or not express their emotions. It is not necessarily so, though. Feminism isn't strictly for women, it's about equality. I would like people to have a look at our artwork and see how it applies to them, the question included. 'What is enough for me?', if the audience can go away and think about that, it is a massive achievement.
Recharge by Pooja Kishnani. Pooja Kishnani
Give us an insight into your backgrounds as artists.
Marion: I am a self-taught artist and have been painting and drawing since I was a child. There was a 10-year gap when I stopped, but since reigniting my creativity four years ago, I haven't stopped. I explore and all of the mediums that I work with and all the art that I create comes from an internal dialogue with myself.
Jda: I was a hip-hop DJ for many years and became interested in women's image in hip-hop not always being the most positive. I studied graphic design and when I played around with image and video, I became interested in the gaze and how we can subvert the male gaze. From music, I started to make videos and images to match and it was a challenge to the order where I would play with the idea of women's bodies by duplicating or making it ridiculous to a soundtrack where you wouldn't expect it. I was interested in how I can adapt it and how I can reflect it.
Kishnani: I am also a self-taught artist and I use art as a way of healing. I started working on it eight years ago, and when I created art it was a time of happiness and being free. I wanted to figure out how to do it full-time because that was when I felt the most free to express myself. I use art as a way of mapping my subconscious. To tell how I am feeling, I can draw a piece of artwork, I am able to see how I am feeling at the very moment. I am also able to see how it changed over the years as I kept unlearning behaviour, and it started going from black to white to colour. As soon as I started changing things in my life, it reflected in my art.
How do the differences in your artworks come together?
Kishnani: My art is very political and very dark. My art is not very literal and is abstract and I am fascinated by how people respond to my art, depending on their state of mind. Then it becomes a question for them and can affect their life. My art comes from the outside in and Sam's is very internal and meditative and Jda's is the subverted gaze. Us coming together creates that perfect combination.
Jda: I like the fact that we all work with different mediums. I feel like Pooja's mind and Sam's soul blend with my artwork, which is what's put out -- the external outside. Us working differently and shows that artists can come from different backgrounds and offer some variety in terms of art styles. It adds layers to it and makes it textured.
Marion: We are going to bring it all together by doing a live painting at the opening. I am going to paint the background in my abstract way with my hands. Pooja is going to draw on it and Jda will come in some form in the way she creates. There is no planning just a general idea of it, like it will be on canvas. We are going to bring our three styles together to evolve organically in the way that this exhibition has done. We have all become artists separately but have come together, unique as we are, and what's going to make it interesting is our different takes on the same subject. g
'What is enough?' opens today at 6pm at Jam, 41 Soi Rong Nam Khaeng (Charoen Rat 1), Sathon. The exhibition is on display till Dec 8. Visit bit.ly/2ztJ3G0.
