Lotusfrau Rubbing (work in progress), 2026, Single-channel video
Rubbing becomes the central movement of the work. It remains unclear what she is trying to remove — dirt, text, or residue — but the repeated friction gradually produces small red marks. The body becomes a site of labor, where care and abrasion coincide. Humor, endurance and irony coexist. The repetitive gesture rubbing oscillates between maintenance and agitation, echoing how bodily movements performed by feminized or racialized subjects are often read as disorder rather than intention. We hear a woman singing Korean labor folk songs (노동요) associated with washing clothes by the rivers and domestic chores. The voice introduces a memory of resilience while pointing to forms of women’s cultural and artistic expression that were rarely formally documented. This work is an offering, a poem, and a counter archive of women’s art and labor outside linear time and logics of resolution.
The work is part of the video series Lotusfrau, which examines speculative histories of women’s art and labor across contexts, including Asian and diasporic figures, through the lens of single movements, tracing how feminized bodies have been marginalized, racialized, and pathologized as disordered within patriarchal systems.
Direction & Performance: Yon Natalie Mik; Camera: Rina Nakano