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Courtesy of the Artist |
"Shi: Kimono in Motion"Featuring the work of Chanel Matsunami Govreau Edited by Isadora Leidenfrost
Chanel Matsunami Govreau is senior BFA student in the Department of Art and Asian American Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In 2008, Chanel took an artist video class in the Art Department where her interests in performance and installation work began to blossom. As part of her work for this class, she visited the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection's Crafting Kimomo exhibition. Chanel commented, "I remember going to see Crafting Kimono on the very last day of the exhibition in Spring 2008. Being multiracial, Japanese French American, I felt an obscure blend of isolation and familiarity looking at the garments. I ran home to grab a video camera, my own white kimono and a friend to film me. In the gallery space I did my first performance piece, standing in front of each garment, wearing my own kimono, |
and opening my arms in replication of how each piece was hung. It was an exploration of finding my place in that history. Drawing from this experience, I spent the next year planning and preparing for the ‘Shi’ installation, which became a collaboration with my Auntie Sueko, who is an expert kimono maker and sensei."
We invite you to watch Chanel's video and installation piece.
Portrait of Chanel Matsunami Govreau. Courtesy of the Artist. |
About her work, she says, “I create art as a means of survival. I use my body, face, regalia, and word as a site of performance storytelling.”
Chanel has been active on campus as a community arts organizer since her freshman year, and is known for founding Women in REDzine, UW-Madison’s first Multicultural Women’s Art and Literature publication.
She is a founding member of the international women in printmaking collective, GrapevineINK.
Chanel was also featured in M.I.S.S Magazine's Women Making History Feature. |
Chanel returns to UW-Madison this fall after a year living in New York City, working as a teaching artist, and interning with Chinese American composer, Fred Ho. She the recent recipient of the ILLUMINATE: UW-Madison Year of the Arts 2010-11 Art Undergraduate Award.
We also invite you to follow Chanel's on Differentiate: A Process Based Artist Blog
