Felisha Carénage

Madwoman

Textiles and works on paper exploring gendered violence in public and private space. Beginning as a loneliness factory Patricia chez Soi, it …

Textiles and works on paper exploring gendered violence in public and private space. Beginning as a loneliness factory Patricia chez Soi, it developed into Parade Créole, a modular exhibition nurtured by feminist collectives and art spaces. Drawing Breath is a publication with short essays on this work.

Madwoman?! in its current stage is at its most essential: an intimate examination of institutional care and familial neglect in cases of intimate partner terrorism.

Patricia Chez Soi

Patricia chez soi, 2017. Embroidered and printed tapestries. Products of a Loneliness Factory (Einsamkeitsfabrik)

Embroidered and printed tapestries. Products of a Loneliness Factory (Einsamkeitsfabrik), which was a collective performance coordinated by Felisha Maria Bahadur, within the context of Michael Beutler's teaching at Wall 40 for the Muthesius University of Art and Design, in Kiel, from 2016-17.

Patricia Chez Soi: So Lonely
Participants were granted an isolated 8-hour stay in a living space with adjoined workshop. The artist took their mobile phones and ironed her own phone number into a single item of the participants' clothing. Participants – who included Melina Bigale, Nane Boysen, Jakob Braune and Annaliisa Krage – were then given a journal and a list of tasks within the space and in the city. Attempting to concretise a cultural brand of loneliness, some of these tasks were:

  • begin a Princess Diana puzzle from the brand Ravensburger

  • take a taxi to go to the oldest nearby Cemetery

  • have dinner alone at a traditional bayerisch restaurant

  • hand-embroider golden fleur-de-lys onto a woolen moroccan blanket

  • note whatever you feel in the shared diary

  • go to a 6pm Mass at the nearby St Nikolai church

  • create stencils out of stick-on wallpaper

  • have a nap

These tapestries and other artworks (not shown) are the result of their efforts and the artist's after-care.

The project is documented in Konkrete Aufgabe: Maximale Freiheit, published by Michael Beutler, Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design Kiel / written by Felisha Maria Bahadur, Kim Anni Bassen, Michael Beutler, Melina Bigale, Hannah Bohnen, Nane Boysen, Jakob Braune, Tina Eitner, Felix Ermacora et al. / Kiel, 2017