Hands
“Hands” was created over two years during two-week-long residencies for an annual performance art event at the Jatiwangi Art Factory in Jatiwangi, West Java, Indonesia. During my first residency, I worked for a full day each in a modern and traditional roof tile factory, getting to know the daily experience of the workers and the different processes of handmade vs. factory-made roof tiles. Between work shifts, I visited the homes of the people that I worked with, learning more about their lives and experiences as roof tile factory workers. My performance was the work itself, done alongside the other workers, which drew attention to the physical tasks that were taking place in the village alongside the performance art festival. During my second residency, I continued to meet with the families that I had worked with, this time capturing video footage of the work that they did with their hands in the village. I edited the footage together and screened it during the final event, inviting the audience at the end to dip their hands into rooftile clay and leave their hand marks on the fabric screen that had been projected onto.
Jatiwangi, West Java, Indonesia 2008
