After a great weekend visit to Mai Rim for a party and a swim in a beautiful waterfall, I spent some time preparing to give a talk about my work, and host an English themed ‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’ – complete with scones, cucumber sandwiches and chocolates that I’d brought from home.
Like the process of writing applications, giving talks is also a useful exercise for pinning down what you actually do as an artist. I selected about 6 works since 2005 to talk about that were tied to the ideas I’m pursuing in the residency.
I ended talking about Girl Gang and inviting the women to set up a Girl Gang in Thailand. We are going to have a meeting this weekend to discuss what it means to have Girl Gang in a Thai context – the group will decide what the parameters are. It’s very important that it is a collaboration – the women who join are all equally Girl Gang. If our activities can be described as art then they are all equally the artists who produce it. All involved have the power and agency to direct and influence our activities. This is not participation. I will not be the leader. And this especially important in this context because its absolutely not for me to say what is daring or not daring in this context, and I don’t understand the culture well enough to know the nuances of socially acceptable behaviour.
