Homeworkers Review

Figure 1. The Pikes, 1992-3, Annette Messager

 Tate Modern

Level 4 Room 8

Homeworkers

Figure 2. Homeworkers, 1977, Margaret Harrison

The Tate Modern exhibition takes on a whole new level of expressing feminism and political flaws. Works done from different period of times showed us the history, and letting us see how it had influenced our society. Textiles works from Tracey Emin, Rosemarie Trockel, Margaret Harrison and Annette Messager were put together by Ann Coxon and Valentina Ravaglia, shouts loud messages to viewers, representing all Homeworkers’ voice.

Figure 3. Hate and Power Can Be a Terrible Thing, 2004,
Tracey Emin

The first step into the room, The most striking piece of the whole exhibition The Pikes by Annette Messager screamed truthful messages by using severed heads and limbs made out of feminine garments and possessions- stockings and dolls. It does not just focus on feminism, it also conveys other society problems like relationship between genders, war, culture, nature and human’s aggression. Taking a closer look at the little drawings and paintings and a darker side of this work was revealed. This piece stood out to me the most because of the creepy looking dolls and the hostile pikes.

Tracey Emin’s Hate and Power Can Be A Terrible Thing displays large sized words, making multiple strong powerful statements, clearly confronting the viewers. There were no subtleties to her piece, just sharp messages.

Margaret Harrison’s Homeworkers included data and stories to support this exhibition, truth of economic flaws and gender division were harshly unveiled. Gender division definitely need to be saved, viewers should keep their mind open and accept the ugly truth. Her artwork was very convincing. It was so interesting I had to take the time to read what was written on her piece of work.

Figure 4. Untitled. 1986, Rosemarie Trockel

Rosemarie Trockel’s  knitted work didn’t stand out to me as much as the others until I walked up  to it and spotted these geometric patterns. Connecting to the theme of the exhibition, this piece of work conveys in machinery and job of a female. Ironic message in this piece was subtle and it took me a while to understand it.

Truly inspiring and brave artists, I believe female should never be afraid to stand up for themselves, and should be able to fight for their rights, for it is now unjustified. As a practitioner, I think it is really important to have my own thoughts and not be afraid to speak up and share. 

Bibliology:
Ravaglia, Valentina. Accessed on 12th October, 2013.  http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/homeworkers