A recent experience in the Philippines saw my exit from participation in what is to be a big collaborative international art exhibition and workshops in Manila 2007. The concept is to use "art as healing" by running workshops that engage women and child victims of sexual abuse, violence, and sex trafficking, to work in collaboration with international artists and artists within the Philippines . It is praiseworthy idea in theory and drew very enthusiastic responses from women artists all over the Pacific, including America . Philippine artists approached social and community workers to give them access to the victims and survivors of abuse within their communities. There were plenty to choose from as the Philippines is a very poor country. Its women and children suffered torture, rapes and massacres by the Japanese in WW2. Its women are illegally sex trafficked to Europe , Australia and Japan . The American military is currently battling to squash the rape of a young woman by five Marines as well as cover up health issues that have arisen from toxic waste left by the military.
The main focus of the art programme was on the "Comfort Women". These women were raped as 12 year olds and forced into prostitution by the Japanese soldiers during their occupation of the Philippines in 1944. This group of Comfort Women witnessed the massacre of their village "Mapanique", and the torture and murder of their families. To date they have not received the apology they so desperately seek from the Japanese Government who still refuse to acknowledge their part in the war. These are vulnerable women all over 70, living in poverty and suffering poor health.
International and Filipino artists entered into this venture with open hearts and a lot of ignorance, including me. We offered up ideas for workshops that would engage these abused people in a collaborative experience designed to heal and nurture, with the outcome being a big international exhibition of craft, performance, painting, video's and photography. There is a question in all this and that is the position of the foreign artist, our understanding of local situations and expectations. What is our overall responsibility to those very vulnerable people we collaborate with?
This was very evident when the concept of American artist, Terry Berkowitz Professor of art, Baruch College Chicago, unwittingly caused a rift between the Comfort Women and social workers. Berkowitz's project was to photograph the "Comfort Women", to make postcards from their portraits with their name and story underneath and post them to the Japanese Government over a period of months. It is a great idea, and Berkowitz has worked on past activist projects in Israel and America . However, in this instance, the Comfort Women have an expectation; they believe that this will get them an apology from the Japanese Government. Discussions arose around the concept between the Comfort Women and Social workers. Concerns were voiced by the Comfort Women as to whether the outcome of Berkowitz's project would realize their expectations, or were they being used to benefit artists?
The negotiators on behalf of the Comfort Women approached the art organizers to put the work on hold until they could work out some guidelines. The Philippine curators, not wanting to see the project scuttled, bypassed the negotiators in order to get to those Comfort Women who were agreeable to the project going ahead. This caused problems of mistrust within the community of Comfort Women dividing them into "for" and "against". Berkowitz and I, being the two artists involved in projects with the Comfort Women, were caught up in this. It was an uncomfortable situation. There were a lot of mixed feelings and both of us were aware of the internal politics as we had been briefed by both the exhibition curator and the angry bypassed negotiators. It required a lot of art healing!
Berkowitz tried to do what she saw as right and appropriate from her stand point, that of an American woman from a privileged society. She drew up contracts with the Comfort Women that agreed to give them a percentage of any money made from the postcards. This was done with the best intentions. However, her image as a powerful American played a great part in the decisions made by the Comfort Women who supported her project. They are very poor, don't speak English and live in the waning hope that the Japanese Govt. will apologise and compensate them for the atrocities committed against them. These women have already experienced exploitation by artists in the past with the false promises of documentary makers and photographers who faded into the ether after utilising them to further their own careers.
This project was a contentious issue and became a concern for me when it came my turn to meet with the Comfort Women for the purpose of my own art project. The first question I was asked by the women was "why are you here"? "What are you going to do for us?" My concept was to show them how to recycle plastic and knit fashionable bags so they could start a craft industry and make money. A great idea, but it failed before it began! They didn't want to learn to knit plastic, their eyesight was failing and they had bad arthritis! Okay, so what was I doing there? I put on a performance costume I made from knitted plastic bags and danced on a table to someone beating a saucepan! Fortunately the women enjoyed my performance and dressed in my costume and danced for me. They sung songs they had written about their childhood experiences, the murder and torture of their families the burning of their village, their rape and beatings. These songs were translated for me as they clung to one another. I realised that one can't raise hope where there is a possibility it cannot be fulfilled, for it only leads to more pain and mistrust which is in conflict with the project. I withdrew from the exhibition.
Collaborations and workshops involving the underprivileged should benefit the underprivileged. It is the knowledge gained from the experience, and the privilege of trust, which benefits the artist, and not the possibility of an exhibition.
This was revealed to me in a new collaboration in the Philippines , by invitation of Peace Women Partners, an organization working toward a vision of a world where all people care for each other. Peace Women Partners in collaboration with Mindanao State University , invited me to be a key note speaker and hold a craft workshop at the first Moro Muslim Women's Solidarity Conference. Accompanying me were Merci Angeles, the director of Peace Women Partners, and Professor Reiko Ogawa, cultural worker from Kyushu University , Japan .
The Moro people are the traditional land owners of Mindanao ! Even within the poverty of the Philippines the Moro are an oppressed people, branded terrorists, and denied their rights as indigenous land owners. These wonderful generous people opened up their unique and amazing culture to me. I was so enthralled by them I forgot about my personal artistic aspirations and emersed myself in their culture. They reciprocated by turning up to my workshop. I taught 100 determined Muslim women to knit plastic bags on bar b q sticks! A huge miscalculation on my part I arrived with 10 pairs of knitting needles and a suitcase full of chopped up plastic bags to knit.
The Moro women are exquisite weavers and have their own traditional designs and colours; it was an exchange of mutual enjoyment. The experience has left me with a sense of responsibility towards them. I don't believe I can heal the pain of physical violence or get apologies from Governments, but I can work for a cause to the best of my ability. A cause that commits me to the project of introducing the art and culture of an incredibly creative people who aren't known much beyond their shores because extreme poverty and oppression have kept them behind a wall of ignorance and fear. In this way I feel I, as an artist, can truly collaborate in an artistic exchange that is open, respectful and tolerant of difference.
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