Joybrata Sarker and Mariana Bacelar
Exhibition curated by Adrian von Egmund

恶行记



这是关于权力与统治的作品。我所关注的是社会角色与社会行为常态中所潜藏的“主奴”关系,即人与人间倾轧与被倾轧的不公正关系。“主奴”这一主题在世界范围内具有普遍意义。在我从欧洲到中国(从西方到东方)的旅途中,我目睹了全球化所带来的负面效应-不同的国家、 文化和个体都在对利益和权力的追求中逐渐趋同。



哥雅的绘画作品“克洛诺斯”描绘的是古希腊泰坦神克洛诺斯由于惧怕儿子会夺走自己的权力,于是亲口将其吃掉。这幅画对我的创作起到重要的启发作用。另一个启发来自《圣经》中约拿与鲸的故事:约拿被鲸鱼吞下,在它的胃里呆了三天三夜之后又被吐出。我认为这则故事隐喻了一种重生的可能性。这两个故事对我来说有着非同寻常的意义,它们虽然内容不同,却都是对“主奴”关系中的权力争夺的强有力映射。



我在创作中借用了泰坦神的象征意义,并通过不同的童年情境加以展现。我试图用童年期的纯真来表现易受伤害的状态,这同时也是个体与社会走向成熟的必由之路。我在我的许多作品中塑造了同一个女主人公,这个年轻的女子来自我童年时代的阅读体验。在我的记忆中,这些故事书总是按照公认的社会准则来设计女主人公,将她们塑造成年轻女子学习的榜样。 当我来到中国,我发现那些理想的西方和东方女孩形象除了眼睛的形状、个人主义和集体主义的意识形态有所差别外,其他方面竟是完全相同的。我创造了这个塑像,我尝试着用非现实的手法描绘现实,赋予这些千篇一律的女主人公全新的生命。

Mariana Bacelar 2007


Tales of Wrongdoing

This body of work is about power and domination. I am addressing the theme of the master-slave relationship within normalized social roles and behavior. It is when someone chooses to impose unjust power over another. The master-slave theme can also be perceived on a global scale. In my journey that took me, by land, from Europe to China (from West to the East) I observed the negative effects of corporate globalization where nations, cultures and identities are being homogenized in the pursuit of profit and power.

Significant to this body of work is the painting entitled Cronos by Goya in which a giant is depicted consuming his son in fear of losing his power to him. Another motivation on this work is the story of the biblical figure Jonah and the whale. It is a story where the whale consumes Jonah in which he lives inside its stomach for three days but then survives. I see this story as metaphor for the possibility of rebirth. These two stories are of central concern to me because I see them as powerful allegories telling two different stories of struggle within the master-slave relationship.

In this body of work I employ the giant metaphor within different childhood scenarios. I try to use the condition of innocence within childhood as a way to represent vulnerability as well as processes of maturation within society and the individual. In many of my works I present a young heroine. This heroine originates from the memories of my childhood books. The heroines in these books are used as representations of roles models for socially acceptable behavior for young girls. In coming to China, I discovered that the images of the idealized western girl and eastern girl are identical with the exception of the shape of the eyes and the party ideologies of individualism and collectivism. I play with this icon and I try to give another life to these heroines where the unreal talks about the real.

Mariana Bacelar 2007