Togetherness and the Way We Were, 2008

During the 2008 Womanifesto artist On-Anong Glinsiri prepared a workshop that taught participants about weaving as not only a regular daily activity, but to work with the method as an artform. In a statement about the project, On-anong remarked:

"I am interested in craft & art and chose to work with woven mats as material for my work. This material is simple and has been part of daily life in Thailand for a long time. They have been used throughout our life - from birth to death. The texture is simple, with natural earth tones that come from dried reeds.

In my work State of Limbo, 2006, I cut a finished woven mat into hundreds of small pieces (10x3 inches). I then sewed them together and made a two pointed Thai roof, one side with the right side up, and the other side, upside down. They were hung from the ceiling. My wish was that I would have chance to learn how to weave this material, then I could continue working with it in my own way.

It was about a year ago now that the chance arrived in the form of an invitation to join the Womanifesto Residency Program led by Nitaya Ueareeworakul. The program aims for artists to find a way to work with art and crafts in Isarn.

At the start of the residency I asked Mae Pan, one of the participants to assist me by teaching me how to weave a mat; even though she herself had to prepare her work for the workshop as well as her own project, she agreed. She also told me stories, particularly Buddhist allegories as well as about the techniques of natural dyes made from barks of the trees and plants growing on the farm. Moreover, she consoled me and helped me get rid of the fear I felt during my early days on the farm. She said that all beings and things can live together in harmony, which helped get rid of my fear.

During the time I was on the farm I felt the human to human connections. We gradually learnt how to live, share and care for each other, like mothers to daughters, sisters to sisters. All became good friends here, even though we still needed to find our own space to create work. At first the surrounding nature determined our way and then we found a way to live together, which lead us to adjust and accept each other - human to human, human to nature.

We finally had to part with each other and go back to our own routine and activities. At Rai Boonbandarn, I have found a culture of giving and sharing in the physical sense."

Togetherness and the way we were - extended artist statement by On-Anong Glinsiri © Womanifesto archive