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CLUSTER CRAFTS FAIR

The practice of craft-making has always occupied a rather awkward and ill-fitting place in the art world. For years, it has been dismissed as subservient to the seven traditional arts: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, Literature, Music, Performing, and Film. However, during the past decade, galleries and fairs have made efforts to re-introduce and re-establish the artistic value of crafts under the vague categorization of “mixed media” art. Perhaps, this shift is an attempt by the art industry to introduce something fresh into the market, or it simply is a case of supply and demand. In any event, crafts possess an inherent status of “otherness” that has attracted many artists throughout the decades. This “otherness” in combination with the sense of familiarity and intimacy that crafts exude, makes them an effective agent for socio-political commentary.  

It is interesting to see how contemporary artists from different parts of the world use crafts to express their view about society, economy and politics.  Ham Kyungah is a South Korean artist known for her ongoing “Embroidery Project”. After coming across a North Korean propaganda leaflet outside her parents’ house in 2008, Ham decided to find a way to communicate with the isolated north. With the “Embroidery Project”, Ham creates digital designs, which she then smuggles to North Korea through a Chinese intermediary. North Korean embroidery artisans transfer her designs into huge tapestries and release them back to her through the same route. In effect, by using the technological skills of the South and the artisanship of the North, Ham’s tapestries form a cultural bridge between two otherwise irreconcilable geographies.

Lastly, making our way to Europe, we cannot fail to mention the fantastic British artist Grayson Perry and his whimsical ceramic vases. Using cartoony figures, sexual imagery, photographs, phrases from social media and extravagant colours, Perry comments on British society and politics. Touching upon issues of consumerism, social status, identity and gender, Perry takes the tradition of pottery away from the realm of the decorative. A personal favourite is the pair of Brexit vases on display at the V&A Museum’s Ceramic Galleries. Monumental in size, each vase depicts Leave and Remain supporters respectively, alongside symbols of Britishness such as teapots, marmite, grocery shop logos and important public figures.

Each in their way has taken a traditional craft practice and made it their own. Let it be quirky ceramics, Mexican garments or carefully-laid needlework, there is no doubt that now more than ever is the time to observe and challenge the world around us; and what better way to do it but with a bit of colour!

Moving to the other side of the world, Los Angeles-based artist Tanya Aguiñiga engages in what she calls “performance crafting” to comment on the USA - Mexico relations and immigration laws.  One of  Aguiñiga’s most touching performances, “Tension”, was made in collaboration with artist Jackie Amézquita as part of Aguiñiga’s project “Art Made Between Opposite Sides” (AMBOS)- an ongoing investigation about the USA - Mexico border. In this performance Aguiñiga and Amézquita used backstrap weaving to tie themselves together through the border fence, with Aguiñiga on one side of the fence in Douglas, Arizona, USA and Amézquita in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Not only is the location crucial as it is where Amézquita once attempted to cross the US border to reunite with her mother, but the act of backstrap weaving itself bears socio-political connotations. Backstrap weaving is a typical practice in Mayan culture that survives until this day in Southern Mexico. Hence, the use of this technique in “Tension” symbolises the resilience and resistance of a pre-colonial culture and the knowledge of its people.