Woman Cleaning Garbage, India 2015
When I arrived in India I had the idea of making a cleaning ritual in the series Woman Cleaning. Months prior to the trip I had studied and talked to people about the caste system in India. It seemed to be the core of India challenges, a person destiny was rooted in this way of perceiving the world. A hardcore class system even for us white people with our history of colonialism. My project 'Woman Cleaning' has clear references to imperialism so I thought this would be an ambiguous topic to do a work upon. When I arrived I started to read the local newspapers in Kerala. I could read that the caste system was banned by law in the state. However, the massive garbage problem in the state was given the blame of the female population. Due to the lack of women ability to teach their sons and husbands to pick up after themselves, land and rivers were getting more and more covered with garbage. Women were to be blamed and they had to take responsibility in order to solve the situation.
I decided to take this responsibility upon myself. I invited a man to join me and we started one early morning to clean up the nearby beach. We managed to fill up all the bags we had brought with us before we breakfast. And after about 30 min break we returned to our mission. By then somebody had not only taken noticed they had put up posters along the beach inviting everybody to meet the next day to clean up the rest of the coastline by the village. I managed to teach one Indian man to not through garbage again, and together we managed to pass it on.
The next day I learned that 42 people showed up. I believe this was the most effective eksempel in my life so far, where art had made an impact.
A couple of days later I went to Indonesia.
When I arrived in India I had the idea of making a cleaning ritual in the series Woman Cleaning. Months prior to the trip I had studied and talked to people about the caste system in India. It seemed to be the core of India challenges, a person destiny was rooted in this way of perceiving the world. A hardcore class system even for us white people with our history of colonialism. My project 'Woman Cleaning' has clear references to imperialism so I thought this would be an ambiguous topic to do a work upon. When I arrived I started to read the local newspapers in Kerala. I could read that the caste system was banned by law in the state. However, the massive garbage problem in the state was given the blame of the female population. Due to the lack of women ability to teach their sons and husbands to pick up after themselves, land and rivers were getting more and more covered with garbage. Women were to be blamed and they had to take responsibility in order to solve the situation.
I decided to take this responsibility upon myself. I invited a man to join me and we started one early morning to clean up the nearby beach. We managed to fill up all the bags we had brought with us before we breakfast. And after about 30 min break we returned to our mission. By then somebody had not only taken noticed they had put up posters along the beach inviting everybody to meet the next day to clean up the rest of the coastline by the village. I managed to teach one Indian man to not through garbage again, and together we managed to pass it on.
The next day I learned that 42 people showed up. I believe this was the most effective eksempel in my life so far, where art had made an impact.
A couple of days later I went to Indonesia.
Woman Cleaning Last Destination, Jakarta 2015
By Gitte Sætre
This performance was recorded on the trash dump outside Jakarta in 2015, people of Jakarta have given this spot the name: The Final Destination. Indonesia is the world's second biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans, and is in a state of emergency with regard to waste problems. Its decaying trash disposal sites are struggling to cope with tens of millions of tons of waste every year.
This work was shown in Jakarta and in Oslo.Woman Cleaning Final Destination is the eight chapter in the Woman Cleaning series, where Gitte Sætre cleans objects and places as an act of penance, a way to clear our collective conscience.
Cleaning can be a way to re-establish control over our surroundings.
http://trap.no/en/project/artistic-shorts
By Gitte Sætre
This performance was recorded on the trash dump outside Jakarta in 2015, people of Jakarta have given this spot the name: The Final Destination. Indonesia is the world's second biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans, and is in a state of emergency with regard to waste problems. Its decaying trash disposal sites are struggling to cope with tens of millions of tons of waste every year.
This work was shown in Jakarta and in Oslo.Woman Cleaning Final Destination is the eight chapter in the Woman Cleaning series, where Gitte Sætre cleans objects and places as an act of penance, a way to clear our collective conscience.
Cleaning can be a way to re-establish control over our surroundings.
http://trap.no/en/project/artistic-shorts