|
Starting from the perspective of women, I pay close attention to the varying circumstances of women from different eras. The washboard, an artifact that has been soaking in water year in and year out, signifies the womanhood of a past era. There are countless women who bear witness to this river of life. It tells us how women wear their lives down in the male-dominated society on these sharp-edged wooden boards. In its verticality, shape, and form, the washboard resembles a memorial plaque—perhaps a memento commemorating the life of a woman. |
 |
Tao Ai-Min
Starting from the perspective of women, I pay close attention to the varying circumstances of women from different eras. The washboard, an artifact that has been soaking in water year in and year out, signifies the womanhood of a past era. There are countless women who bear witness to this river of life. It tells us how women wear their lives down in the male-dominated society on these sharp-edged wooden boards. In its verticality, shape, and form, the washboard resembles a memorial plaque—perhaps a memento commemorating the life of a woman. Appearing before our eyes are women of different ages, personalities, at different places psychologically and in their lives, with different levels of learning and cultivation. We see the ceaseless process of repeating the action of washing, over and over again, on what has gradually been worn bald by the wheel of time. We see their faces faded in the passage of time, in between the blurred and changing reality, seeping into each other, melting into one. This merge reveals a kind of mournfulness and bleak desolation. The women are the reincarnation of history; they are the femininity itself! In modern society, where the washing machine is gradually replacing the washboard, how should we understand the social role of women from this era?
I went to the countryside to gather washboards, collect pictures and memories of life from different people. There I experienced the true existence of women, and I use an artistic method to preserve these washboards, the way one would preserve cultural artifacts of an era.
