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No Name

by Dunia

The work „No Name“ which is compiled of different elements in mixed media presents the viewer with the reality of a parent-care-giver, between personal experiences, queer feminism, and society internalized as well as externalized prejudice. Thorn between loving, caring, fighting and surviving, a parent-care-giver finds themselves in a world that is inflexible, hostile and is not opened to the understanding of their reality

The work comes in layers of this living experience, they are:

  • Photography: the heart of their reality, the most loved human
  • Finger painting: the queerness of their reality, its presence and absence in their current state of a parent
  • Embroidery layer: protection from the externalized oppression and hostility
  • Text: thoughts and words from the external world that are fighting through the other layers trying to reach for the middle.
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These are the 6 photos of Dunia's artwork. The artwork is called "No Name". Together they form a collage. Dunia has experimented with the photo view and changed the size of the photo by zooming in. The attention is drawn to the parent and the child lying down, surrounded by finger painting and embroidery. Dunia has called it the centre. This centre is enlarged or reduced in the 6 photos in six variations.

It´s a picture by Fine that they painted at the Caring Arts Lab in Munich after going on Miri´s dream journey. Fine tells:
„I have painted a picture that shows a moment of caring.
It shows a footbath and arms washing legs in this footbath.
The background is white with many thin black lines reminiscent of waves. The picture has a black frame.
With the picture, I wanted to preserve the memories of the feelings from that moment.
I am at home with a friend and she is washing my feet and looking after me. At first I was ashamed because my feet were dirty and I didn’t like them, but then I felt very safe because she was taking care of me. The water is pleasantly lukewarm, the stone she uses to remove the calluses has a rough surface and scratches, but doesn’t hurt. Her hands are soft.
It was a very intimate moment. Maybe that’s why the black round footbath has the profiles of me and my friend on the top and bottom edges. At the time, I had a turquoise hairstyle with bangs. I also painted my lips turquoise. My friend had black hair and bangs at the time. I painted her lips an ultramarine blue color.
I wanted to show our bond through the colors. The water in the footbath changes color. The turquoise from me and the ultramarine blue from my friend run towards each other, spread out and mix in some places. This causes the colors to change their tones. I wanted to show how this connection came about.“

Listen to the audio version of Dream Journey:

This is a photo of a work of art made of different materials and created using different techniques: photo, finger painting, embroidery, text.

In the centre of the white paper is a small photo of a parent and a child. They are outlined by a black line. They are very close to each other. The parent is holding the child with their right arm. The parent’s legs are bent. The child is holding the parent’s breast with its left hand and is being breastfed.

The parent is a white queer person aged 30. This person is wearing an orange and red swimming costume with a floral pattern and has wet, brown hair, shoulder length, a tattoo in the shape of a branch on the right arm. The parent looks loving at the child. At the same time, the parent seems worried, looks very tired, has half-open eyes. The face is stressed.

The child is a white person. In the photo, the child is 18 months old and has short blonde hair. The child is covered with a white blanket.

The author has drawn circling lines around this photo with their finger: first a blue line, then a yellow line, then a red line and the last line is a green line.

The photo and these lines are outlined with a cream-coloured piece of fabric. The fabric has folds and repeating patterns. This is an embroidery: a green thin long branch with grey leaves and red dots.

The photo, finger painting and embroidery are a centre in this artwork. Embroidery gives a protective effect because the fabric is thick and wavy and hides a little the parent and child from the 5 texts that surround this centre.

The texts are separated from each other with 5 black lines. If you look at the whole picture, it can remind you of a clock without clock hands. The texts are written by hand and take up a lot of space. The font is very small and barely legible. It creates an atmosphere of hectic rush. Direction of rotation to the right:

Text 1: Queer feminist parenting. Having a child is anti-feminist. Babies learn about gender, because we tell them. Do not dress your child in pink. Is it a girl or a boy? How shall your child call you? Do not talk about gender. Do not gender my baby. What is your identity now? Mother/no mother.

Text 2: Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep. Sleep Sleep.

Text 3: Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is the best for your baby. You have to breastfeed on demand. You have to breastfeed every 2 hours. Wake up your baby to breastfeed them. My milk. Pumping. You do not have enough milk. You will never have enough milk. It will never work out for you. Breastfeeding your baby makes them dependent on you. Breastfeeding is a class issue. Why are you still breastfeeding your baby? You have to stop.

Text 4: Public spaces. Do not bring your child here. Do not place your stroller here. Why is your baby crying? What is wrong with them? This is not a place for your stroller, I need to put my bicycle here. Why do you go to bed so early? You are not cool anymore. Do not be one of these parents who can no longer have a social life. Why can you not just take your child to a party with you? Why do you need to fly with a baby? What is a need for that? You disturb others with them crying.

Text 5: Work work work. 4 hours of sleep. 4 hours of work. You have to organize it, you have to be present, concentrate. You have to be professional. Work comes first. Make it look like you can handle everything. 3 hours of sleep – missing a deadline. Excuse yourself all the time. Baby on a train. Baby sleeps – you work. Are you sure you need to do it? Why is the baby not your priority? Think about it. You are a bad parent. Guilt feelings all the time.

About the author:

The photo shows a wooden pendant on a silver chain lying on a wooden surface. The pendant is made of black wood. On it are 2 large pink rosebuds painted in green leaves. Everything is varnished and therefore the reflection of my photographing hands can be seen on the pendant. I found this pendant in an old drawer in an abandoned house. It brought back memories of my grandmother showing me pendants, embroidery thread boxes and postcards in her little room. Everything was organized with love and care. My grandmother passed away in September. I didn't get to hear her stories and hug her for the last time.
Dunia

The photo shows a wooden pendant on a silver chain lying on a wooden surface. The pendant is made of black wood. On it are 2 large pink rosebuds painted in green leaves. Everything is varnished and therefore the reflection of my photographing hands can be seen on the pendant.

I found this pendant in an old drawer in an abandoned house. It brought back memories of my grandmother showing me pendants, embroidery thread boxes and postcards in her little room. Everything was organized with love and care. My grandmother passed away in September. I didn’t get to hear her stories and hug her for the last time.

Explore other artworks:

I have painted various objects and graphic elements on a white background. These are for example: Stim Toys like a tangle or a cuddly toy octopus. Tangles form the moving elements or lines that divide the page into different segments. The 3 thick curvy lines in black, green and silver are the tangles. They are drawn through various parts of the collage. I also painted a lot of gold-colored curved shapes because they remind me of our relaxed space. That's why I also painted a laptop and Dunia, who provided beanbags. The collage is about our workshops, presentations and exchange of ideas. That's why there are lots of quotes. At the top left, the blue text is written on a pink cloud shape: Caring Arts Lab Vienna, 10-16.09.2023.

Scribbles of Caring Arts

During our collective Caring Arts trips to Munich and Vienna, I drew a collage for each travel in a comic style. I did this in order to concentrate and keep my mind and hands busy. Also, I did so to catch memories and share them with other. This is what I call scribbling. It´s a per-sonal and subjective puzzle of my experience, shapes, colors, items I saw and memories I have. But it also is a collective puzzle as it´s the result of our common work. I invite you to follow me through the pictures and through that into the memories of our ed-ucational travels.
It is a photo of three different types of green neon play dough on a black background. They have different colors and textures. I wanted to show that there is not only transformability, but also vulnerability.

Kneaded Spaces

Kneaded Spaces are an invitation to knead with Lena while listening to or reading their piece. Kneaded Spaces are a critique on in_accessibility, exclusion and ableism of spaces. The practice to knead with, is to think and produce spaces together. Furthermore it opens possibilities for spaces of joy, a joy that messes up with the norm of ability. The Audio piece is accompanied by a picture and the written text. This is an invitation to knead with Lena. You can use dough, play doh, selfmade salt doh, slime, clay or earth.
It is a picture that I drew myself with a blue pen. On the white background is an abstract blue shape. There are several round angular bulges on the left and right sides. It reminds me a bit of the letter U. It can also remind me of a whale. The part on the left looks a bit like a fish fin. It's triangular and has a notch in the centre. The part on the right is like the open mouth of a whale. The shape also takes up the whole space of the picture like a whale when he comes to the water's surface from the depths. The shape has contours. I painted them in with the same colour. I coloured in the left part with lots of irregular small lines. The right part is rather smooth and even and slightly lighter in colour. At the bottom left is the blue overhead text in English: We carry each other. On the edge in the centre of the shape, the blue text is written in English from bottom to top: I carry you. On one edge on the right-hand side is the blue overhead text in English: You carry me. This picture gives me a sense of calm, just like the blue of the water. It also gives me a feeling of being held in the water.

Experiencing Caring Arts

This text describes my experiences in the Caring Arts project. I write about what happened in our meeting in Munich in September and how I felt about it. I write from the perspective of January 2024, explaining what I learned and how it felt for me to be part of a space where people's needs are important and taken seriously. This space was much slower than other spaces I am usually in. I realized in this process how often I adapt. Because I don't want to disturb. That was painful to realize.
In the photo is a closeup of water surface of a pond on a sunny day. It's a very warm and calming image for me because there are several interesting textures to look at. I like the warm green of the tree reflection, the yellow of the shallow shore and the brown of the underwater plants. The waves are small. The water makes fleeting movements. Darker tree shadows, small pale blue sky reflections and softly glowing pond reflections interact with each other and have flowing shapes. I liked watching these water movements on this warm sunny day.

A Story about Autistic & ADHD brain

In this article, the author invites readers to take a quick look at how autism and ADHD can affect everyday life. The author, who is a low support needs Autistic with ADHD, shows their thought process behind writing the article. Including all the side stories, random connections, and critique of systems of oppression.
It´s a picture by Fine that they painted at the Caring Arts Lab in Munich after going on Miri´s dream journey. Fine tells: „I have painted a picture that shows a moment of caring. It shows a footbath and arms washing legs in this footbath. The background is white with many thin black lines reminiscent of waves. The picture has a black frame. With the picture, I wanted to preserve the memories of the feelings from that moment. I am at home with a friend and she is washing my feet and looking after me. At first I was ashamed because my feet were dirty and I didn't like them, but then I felt very safe because she was taking care of me. The water is pleasantly lukewarm, the stone she uses to remove the calluses has a rough surface and scratches, but doesn't hurt. Her hands are soft. It was a very intimate moment. Maybe that's why the black round footbath has the profiles of me and my friend on the top and bottom edges. At the time, I had a turquoise hairstyle with bangs. I also painted my lips turquoise. My friend had black hair and bangs at the time. I painted her lips an ultramarine blue color. I wanted to show our bond through the colors. The water in the footbath changes color. The turquoise from me and the ultramarine blue from my friend run towards each other, spread out and mix in some places. This causes the colors to change their tones. I wanted to show how this connection came about.“

Dream Journey

Many people have a place where they feel comfortable. It can be a place of your past, your present life or maybe a dream place of your future. With this guided dream journey you have the chance to travel to your place and enjoy yourself there. After you return from our journey, you can get creative. Maybe you want to show your place in a picture, in a poem or a scenic performance.
A graphic image of soundwaves: strong blue lines going up and down forming loose frayed shapes on a soft grey background with a deep black line, the pattern repeats again and again slightly different every time

rest

Pronouncing the different sounds in the word rest. After a few seconds the audio starts with rhythmic clicking sound. Then, a voice, slightly moaning and whispering, begins to rattle the letter "R". After few seconds pause, vowels appear together with the R sound. Some seconds later, the voice sizzles the letter "S". The audio ends with the voice repeating the whole word.
Photo of the silver surface. This is the fabric that Nastya and Kira used to line up their stim objects in photos and videos for "Stim Sharing Guide". There are many folds on the right side. On the left side, light falls on the fabric. It glitters. That's why Kira and Nastia chose this fabric.

Stim Sharing Guide

Stim Sharing Guide by Nastia and Kira is a process of sharing stim questions with each other or just questions and reactions, stim poems, stim videos, and images.

Funded by the European Union. 
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Logo with a flag of the EU and a saying "Co-Funded by the European Union"

Impressum

Caring Arts © 2024 by Educat e. V. is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International