Video work by Meghna Bhardwaj and Alecia Neo
Concept: Meghna Bhardwaj
Site-direction/ Video: Alecia Neo
Sound: Marcel Zaes
Presented as part of Meghna Bhardwaj's performance residency at The Esplanade, Singapore, the video work emerges from a desire to bring yarn- a material often associated with domesticity and femininity in popular imagination- into public spaces, the streets. In this film, we invite- the passers-by, women and men in the moment of taking a break from work or waiting to pick up their child from school, groups celebrating their Sunday picnics, or friends enjoying recording tik-tok dances together- to knit with us. And what we achieve as a result of these encounters are these ephemeral yarning communities, which remind us of the tenacity embedded in a material as fragile and passive as the yarn. In these acts, what also becomes tactile for us are the transitory fields of energy and compassion that get formed and unformed between us and others, as we lay out the yarn and its stitches in space. We imaginethat perhaps this is one way to temporarily blur borders that divide our identities into separate complexes, reframe maps of titles and times, and bring us in touch with each other with techniques of authenticity, play and wonder, without the burden of promises orcontracts.
The displayed chain of crochet stitches (on the table is what we have gathered in this process, from people we met at various public sites. You are encouraged to interact with the yarn and participate in our journey of collective weaving.
YARNING
A series of durational movement/film installations that Meghna first began creating in the year 2021 (initial iterations supported by Artefact#2 Creative Residency, Dance Nucleus, Singapore), Yarning seeks to study the spatial, temporal, and emotional connection between the yarn/thread/act of crocheting and the body. This collaboration presents a series of new works in the series that Meghna Bhardwaj has created in collaboration with Alecia Neo, at and with the support from Esplanade Contemporary Performing Arts Research Residency, April- June 2022.