Achjadi, Diyan

"Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century images of Victorian woman often depict an exaggerated femininity, illustrating women as sweet, wide-eyed, and docile beings. I work with these images, manipulating and embellishing them with embroidery to build up layers of meanings. Growing up with a Canadian mother and an Indonesian father often meant having contradictory expectations of what a woman should be and how she should act. This is manifested most clearly in behavioral codes and rules of etiquette, which become a glossy surface of acceptable actions that may hide layers of conflicting desires.

Embroidery is a means of approaching that subject, both through the kind of labor it is and has been historically, as well as through its essentially non-utilitarian nature. It is purely decorative, and was often the test of a girl's learning and refinement. It is a silent labor (unlike quilting which was more often done in a communal setting) and functions to keep women still without being idle. It is a means of creating lush and beautiful surfaces, which may contain and hide unpleasant images."

Diyan Achjadi, Artist Statement, 1995

Gallery of Selected Works

"She Was So Charmed, She Almost Overwhelmed Her With Praises" (1995) "Beware of Beautiful Women" (1994) Chastity II (1994) "Listen Lazy Girls!" (1993) Two Women (1993) Untitled (1993) Girl Sewing I (1992) Haram / Avrat II (1992) There once was a mango tree on Jupiter (2021) Untitled (2020)