Jennifer Schuler
Beloved Labours in Pink
As I look back at where this journey has taken me I realize that the most rewarding discoveries have come from a place within myself. Within the questions of the self I have begun to understand how I operate as a visual artist. How does a sexed, gendered, pink body engage in the world of making? How does the body relate to my definition of home? How do private performances become rituals? How do I see myself as a maker and a body in my work? How does my labour in the studio relate to domestic labour?
My thesis project is a form of colour study. I am devoting my practice as a visual artist to the colour pink. Through drawing, painting, sculpture, installation and performance I am investigating how my concept of home, private performances, domestic rituals and my body present themselves with the use of this colour. By using the cultural associations of the colour pink to my advantage, I am providing a space to re-examine the colour pink for what it is, a colour associated with gender, sexuality, biology and questions of taste.
Beloved Linens incorporates a series of domestic actions in combination with the pink linens. I wash a collection of pink linens, in my building where I normally perform this ritual. I then take the linens to the gallery and hang them to dry on a pulley system laundry line. These acts are then repeated every day for seven consecutive days. This work is ongoing and continues to exist as a form of ritual.
Traces of Labour is a series of drawings that record my labour in the studio. By using my stained soapsuds from washing my hands at the end of the day, a drawing is transformed. The drawings depend on the length of time I have worked in the studio and the shade of pink I have used that day. This work is ongoing.
My actions have been completely concealed in the work Hidden Labour and it is only in the ephemeral pink glow that the labour is made visible. The literal choice to “hide” my labour aims to further amplify its relationship and reference to domestic “hidden labour” performed by women in the past.
Untitled (openings) is a series of abstract drawings, using oil pastes, frosted Mylar and my body. Untitled (openings) references the openings of my body and their association to my bodily ego as well as the notion of feeling at home in ones body.
Beloved Linens Variable dimensions Performance installation ( ) space, Vancouver, 2009
Beloved Linens (Detail) Variable dimensions Performance installation ( ) space, Vancouver, 2009
Untitled (Openings) Pastel on Mylar, 61 cm x 3 cm x 91 cm 2009
Traces of Labour (Detail) Ongoing project pastel and soap on paper, ongoing drawing series, each sheet measuring 22.9 cm x 30.5 cm, 2009
Hidden Labour pastel on paper, 57cm x 78 cm, 2009
Traces of Labour pastel and soap on paper, 200 cm x 36 cm, 2009