18º Prémio Nacional de Ilustração

Foi hoje atríbuido o Prémio Nacional de Ilustração referente às obras publicadas em Portugal no ano de 2013. Venceu António Jorge Gonçalves. As duas menções honrosas foram para João Fazenda e Yara Kono. Muitos parabéns aos três. Foi uma honra fazer parte deste Júri, juntamente com Pedro Saraiva e Maria Carlos Loureiro, representante da DGLAB, organismo oficial responsável por este Prémio.

( A informação oficial pode ser lida aqui. ) 

the extraordinary will take care of itself

Do not ask your children

to strive for extraordinary lives. 

Such striving may seem admirable,  

but it is a way of foolishness.  

Help them instead to find the wonder

and the marvel of an ordinary life.  

Show them the joy of tasting

tomatoes, apples, and pears.

Show them how to cry  

when pets and people die.  

Show them the infinite pleasure

in the touch of a hand.

And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.

William Martin, The Parent’s Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents.
img. Nikki Mcclure 

female cloth and other tools

Robes, 2014 (video still)

The Basket, 2014 (video still)

Wet Rag, 2012

In Thai-Australian artist Kawita Vatanajyankur’s three videos The Basket, The Robes and Wet Rag, the artist is both symbolically and literally the material making the work—she is the rag that another woman uses to wash the floor, the wet clothing that is caught in a washing basket, and the fabric that hangs over a line, drying in the breeze (...) Vatanajyankur reframes the way craft and fabric-based production have historically been associated with women’s domesticity and considered a lesser form of creativity than the ‘fine arts’ of sculpture and painting.  ( Stills Gallery )

Soaked, 2012

Poured, 2013

"My series of video work and performance focuses on the female body and its relationship to different elements and everyday objects within various spaces and environments. The experimentations are developed to look at the action and reaction of the body, the transformation of the shape and form of the body that is pressured to merged within the objects and elements until it is changed into a sculpture when affected physically from the elements and objects. The work aims to examine the psychological, corporeal and cultural ways of viewing the human condition. The certain symbols contained in the video are used to reflect the idea of violence, endurance, communication as well as gender."
Kawita Vatanajyankur