A good yarn
Updated: 2013-10-13 08:27
By Rebecca Lo(China Daily)
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Movana Chen's one-woman-show at ArtisTree illustrates how seamlessly she weaves together literature and performance art. Rebecca Lo drops by her Chai Wan studio to observe the "kniterature" in progress.
A paper shredder is humming in an industrial building deep in the heart of east Hong Kong island. In another room, Movana Chen is busily knitting together various pieces she has gathered from friends and acquaintances from all around the world. She is racing against the clock, as her one-woman exhibition Kniterature will open in a few weeks - and she is still assembling the star of the show.
Taking center stage at ArtisTree will be a 15 meter by 1.5 meter tapestry formed from pieces by 150 participants from 20 countries, each of whom have knitted his or her favorite book into what Chen calls "kniterature". For the opening, she intends to include a group of participants knitting silently as they contribute to the ever-growing body of work.
The premise is simple. Everyone possesses a beloved book with unique and personal meaning. Perhaps it is a diary, or a guidebook for a special trip.
Chen asked participants to send this body of work to her to be shredded, and she sends the ribbons back to him or her to be knitted into a textile. If participants don't know how to knit, she shows them online or teaches them in person. They then send their work back to her in Hong Kong to form the tapestry.
Participants include lifelong knitters and novices, men and women between 5 and 80 years old. Some of the pieces come back with dropped stitches or gaping holes.
Chen believes these imperfections make up the beauty of the overall paper blanket. Throughout the 2-year-long project, she held knitting sessions with friends in cafes, on the beach or in their homes. Many develop into deeply moving moments as participants relive memories contained in the literature they are knitting.
"I am the eldest of seven," says Chen. "My grandmother taught me to knit when I was around 12 and still living in Chaozhou. Since I had so many siblings, I was always knitting a scarf for someone during the winter or a sweater for another who went to study abroad. I only know how to knit - I don't embroider, crochet or anything else. I just know the knit stitch; I don't pearl. For me, it's a meditative experience." Talking about the inspiration, she says:"I came up with the idea of knitting paper when I was working in accounting. It was a busy, high-pressured job. I welcomed the chance to shred documents, which I did a lot.
"One day, when I was shredding, I thought about how to change the waste into something practical. I originally studied fashion and decided to try and knit the paper together."
That was in 2003. Chen gave up her accounting job to concentrate full time on her art and has never looked back. For her previous project Body Container, she knitted together maps from travels around the world as she waited in airports and train stations, eventually forming a tube that enveloped her from head to toe.
She wore the piece as it progressed in each destination where she was situated as installation art, culminating on the streets of Hong Kong and filmed by James Vyner.
When Swire Properties made ArtisTree available for her one-woman show, she was at once elated and terrified. "The hall with 2,000 square meters is a big space," she admits. "How do I use the space effectively? Should it be one large piece or many small ones? How do I light it? Architecture firm KPlusK supported me with some great advice."
She believes that intentionally destroying and transforming a book is part of the process of giving it new meaning. "I've read all the books that were shredded, except the ones that are in languages I don't understand," she says. "For those, I try to find the translated version if it's available. Through the process, I learn about the memories that make up each of us."
Contact the writer at sundayed@chinadaily.com.cn.
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Top: In the project Body Container, Movana Chen knits together maps from travels around the world to form a tube that envelops her from head to toe. Above and Below: Chen knits together various pieces to form a tapestry for her solo exhibition Kniterature. Photos Provided to China Daily |
(China Daily 10/13/2013 page15)