Ghada Amer
Women's Qualities, 2021
1/8-inch steel letter-shaped planters, locally-sourced flora/fauna & soil
Each letter:
18 inches in depth
5 feet in length
Widths vary by letter
18 inches in depth
5 feet in length
Widths vary by letter
Edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof
GHA.18387
© Ghada Amer
This garden carves in a number of flowerbeds and in block letters traits (qualities) most often associated with women according to a poll conducted with people from the particular country...
This garden carves in a number of flowerbeds and in block letters traits (qualities) most often associated with women according to a poll conducted with people from the particular country or region in which the installation is situated. Plants selected for each flowerbed are native to the local area, with a primary focus on their hardiness.
In the Sunnylands rendition (2021), the women’s qualities are displayed in seven flowerbeds arranged in a large outdoor circle. The English words reproduced in this version reflect what people from the California Coachella Valley associate with women: Beautiful, Loving, Nurturing, Resilient, Strong, Caring, Determined. All flowers in this garden rendition were selected from medicinal plants, and for their different shades of green, and the color of their blooms.
In the first version of this garden produced at the Metropolitan Art Museum of Pusan in the context of a group show for the second Pusan Biennale, Leaving the Island, curated by Rosa Martinez, Young Chul and Hou Hanru (2000), Ghada Amer asked Korean museum staff members and visiting artists what traits they commonly attributed to women. She selected the eight words that were repeated most often and carved them as floral inscriptions in Korean characters. For this garden, Ghada Amer used a local flower that blooms only once a year for two months, coinciding precisely with the timing of the garden exhibit. Once all the plants bloomed, all women qualities blossomed into deep red flowers.
The most commonly cited words (women’s qualities) that Koreans gave and that served as a basis for the 2000 garden installation were: virtuous, chaste, submissive, fair skin, large breasts, rich, diligent, sensual.
Twenty years after the first rendition of the Women’s Qualities garden in Seoul, Ghada Amer was curious to know what New Yorkers thought about women’s most important traits (qualities) and how these might differ from the ones reported in her questionnaire from the year 2000 in South Korea. The twelve most commonly cited women’s qualities that she discovered in her interviews with passersby in New York City were: Hard Working, Good Cook, Strong, Resilient, Beautiful, Sexy, Happy, Nurturing, Smart, Patient, Kind, Independent, Elegant. She selected these for her Frieze Sculpture, New York in 2020.
-Text by Sahar Amer
In the Sunnylands rendition (2021), the women’s qualities are displayed in seven flowerbeds arranged in a large outdoor circle. The English words reproduced in this version reflect what people from the California Coachella Valley associate with women: Beautiful, Loving, Nurturing, Resilient, Strong, Caring, Determined. All flowers in this garden rendition were selected from medicinal plants, and for their different shades of green, and the color of their blooms.
In the first version of this garden produced at the Metropolitan Art Museum of Pusan in the context of a group show for the second Pusan Biennale, Leaving the Island, curated by Rosa Martinez, Young Chul and Hou Hanru (2000), Ghada Amer asked Korean museum staff members and visiting artists what traits they commonly attributed to women. She selected the eight words that were repeated most often and carved them as floral inscriptions in Korean characters. For this garden, Ghada Amer used a local flower that blooms only once a year for two months, coinciding precisely with the timing of the garden exhibit. Once all the plants bloomed, all women qualities blossomed into deep red flowers.
The most commonly cited words (women’s qualities) that Koreans gave and that served as a basis for the 2000 garden installation were: virtuous, chaste, submissive, fair skin, large breasts, rich, diligent, sensual.
Twenty years after the first rendition of the Women’s Qualities garden in Seoul, Ghada Amer was curious to know what New Yorkers thought about women’s most important traits (qualities) and how these might differ from the ones reported in her questionnaire from the year 2000 in South Korea. The twelve most commonly cited women’s qualities that she discovered in her interviews with passersby in New York City were: Hard Working, Good Cook, Strong, Resilient, Beautiful, Sexy, Happy, Nurturing, Smart, Patient, Kind, Independent, Elegant. She selected these for her Frieze Sculpture, New York in 2020.
-Text by Sahar Amer