Event #2--Fowler Museum at UCLA

These appear to be dyed tampons, or gauze, making up this garment.  Showing a human mannequin completely engulfed in medical/health supplies demonstrates the fragility of the body.  

 Proof that I was there!




















Form and Functionality were stressed in all the exhibits I visited at this museum.  These three photos were part of the "Making Strange" exhibit.  Two separate bodies of work under the umbrella of Delhi-based artist Vivan Sundaram came together in this exhibit; one is called Gagawaka, which is made up of 27 wearable avant-garde outfits "made from recycled materials and medical supplies", and the other is Postmortem, which are dummies, models, wooden props, and mannequins used to portray the human body in an experiment of dissection.  Combining Gagawaka and Postmortem altogether shows the connectedness between body art (like clothing and couture and aesthetics), and the actual physical body that represents these works of art.  

Another piece that had a lot of cultural significance and struck me as quite clever and ingenious was the piece pictured above.  It represents the funeral of Apartheid in South Africa.  This "sculptural installation" was created in "anticipation of the elections held in 1994 that brought about the end of minority rule in South Africa".  I think it is a really cool and interesting way to show a glad and proud goodbye to something repressive and ingrained in a culture.  There could be artwork similar to this bidding farewell to slavery, or to the Soviet Union; treating a regime in a personified manner and giving artistic representation to a culture's history and struggles is unique, raw, and inspiring.  

This piece was also culturally significant, and was a portrayal of functional art as well.  The picture behind this engraved wooden canoe shows the "Yami" people (inhabitants off the coast of Taiwan on the island of Botel Tobago) using it for the purpose of fishing.  However, despite these types of canoes being made for the purpose of getting food, they are engraved meticulously, with this particular canoe including a "human-like form painted on the side...[to] represent...the Yami ancestral cultural hero".  Artistic touches were added to show how proud the Yami were of their heritage.