婦女與布的對話 Dialogue between Women and Fabric
女宅也。
漂亮的女子。
各式豔麗的色彩。
這就是今次拼布藝術展的最佳描述。
來自不同群體的婦女，以一雙巧手密密細縫，以針線喁喁細語，用被人棄置的碎碎花布拼湊出她們最美麗動人的圖畫。
主題只有一個，就是她們身為母親、女性對「家」的種種顧念情懷。
有一群有特別需要照顧的孩子的媽媽們，她們用中國傳統的剪紙藝術技巧，把原來黑白分明的圖像，變成一張又一張愛的頌歌。一位媽媽因孩子未被老師體諒和接納而感到憤憤不平。另一位為兒子做了一個覆診時間表，紀錄了她長期陪伴兒子進出醫院，接受治療的勞累和切膚之痛。媽媽們都希望孩子可以在公園裡行走蹦跳，一家健康快樂地生活。這些願望看似微小，卻都是她們心底最由衷的祝福和盼望。
雲南山區婦女用不同色彩和質料的布塊，平平白白地縫貼上她們一天辛勞的工作。她們要帶孫子，要下田插秧，要煮飯做家務，還要餵豬餵牛。生活雖然貧困艱難，但她們知足常樂，抱有希望，最想孩子可以讀書寫字、家裡的豬牛健健康康、剛撒下的種快高長大。她們沒有高超的繡工技巧，也沒有亮麗的綾纙綢緞，但樸實背後，她們對家人和孩子的疼愛和期望卻溢滿其中。
有來港尋求政治庇護的婦女，在受著白眼、貧困和迫害中，仍一針一線地為孩子將來的家縫上幸福。一位從非洲加納逃出來的媽媽，只能在心中思念在家鄉的年幼孩子，她在布藝中畫了一雙長長的手臂，為的只是替她的心肝寶貝洗擦身子。這群受逼迫的婦女，在憂傷中迸發出驚人的韌力，在處處被掣肘的環境中仍能找到心中的一片天。她們的期望都展示在布藝上：自由的空氣、美麗的藍天、睡得安穩的晚上…
每一件拼布作品都是婦女們生命歷程的一部份，也是她們用以承載夢與愛的器皿。
在香港這個密集的城市裏，人們就如被困在一個個重重??的箱子裏，過著千篇一律、重重覆覆的生活，每天上班下班，再找不到屬於自己的一片天空，也忘記了箱子外的一切。驟眼看去，香港就如同一大片縱橫交錯的方格子，整齊得過分，卻沒了個性。
一群來自不同國家的婦女，因為貧窮、戰亂或其他種種原因、從視野廣闊無際的家鄉，默默地住進狹窄細小暗淡方格內；她們各自生活在方格內的小方格子裏，方格的窗戶雖透著微光，可是，從沒有人注意到這些被填滿了的小方格子，也沒有人注意到這些新住戶在小方格子中尋索屬於她們的自由。
當你察覺到從窗戶透出來的黯淡光芒，醒覺到這些新住戶的存在時，請細心從每一個窗戶看進去，仔細研究每個方格內的小方格子，你會發現每一個小方格子也是屬於她們的天地，有著她們的渴求與盼望。
這件作品展示了香港的居住環境，同時也為這群離鄉別井的婦女提供了一個空間，讓她們訴說她們的故事．．．
梁以瑚
<Cha >
> Women’s house,
> Beautiful ladies,
> All kinds of shining colours.
This is the best description for the fabric art play exhibition.
Women from different parties use fragments of flower-patterned fabric, needle and threads to create beautiful pictures to tell their own loving stories. The common theme is the love and hope towards “home” from the identity of a woman and a mother.
The local mothers, who have children with special needs, use the traditional Chinese paper-cutting techniques to make colourful fabric pieces as an ode of love. A mother showed her anger when her child was not being understood and accepted by a schoolteacher. Another mother made a timetable of medical checkups of her child, showing her fatigue and heartache as her child had has undergone all sorts of treatments for years. The only hope of having a healthy life for their child seems so little, but it is already the greatest dream and blessing from the bottom of the mothers’ heart.
Women from Yunnan rural areas used a variety of fabric fragments to show their hardworking daily lives. Every day, they need to look after their children and grandchildren, to transplant rice seedlings, to cook meals, to do housework and to feed their livestock. Although they have hardship, they are content with their dreams. They hope their children can go to school, their livestock are healthy and their crops are strong. The women have neither superb sewing skills nor fine fabric, but from the artworks we can see that the love towards their family overflows in their lives.
Even the women asylum seekers are discriminated and persecuted; they wish for good fortune for their children through needles and threads. A mother who escaped from Ghana missed her little child so much that she drew long-stretched arms in her quilt to show her eagerness to wash her child. Though these women are under great pressure, they burst out from their sorrow with incredible toughness and explore their inner bright world from a restricted environment. Their dreams are all shown in their artworks: a space of freedom, a big blue sky, a peaceful night for sleep…
Each of the quilt is a page of the women’s life, as well as a container filled with their dreams and love.
Remarks: Artworks in “Cha – The Dialogues Between Women and Fabric” exhibition were the final products from “Nu Hong #4 –Women’s Empowerment Quilt Project” organized by ” Art For All”
全人藝動 Art for All 