Balancing the scales toward gender equality – International Women's Day panel discussion

To mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) and its theme, Balance the Scales, RMIT University Library invites you to a special event featuring the work of artist Kawita Vatanajyankur, from the RMIT University Art Collection. This event is being held in partnership with RMIT's Women Researchers’ Network (WRN).

Dr Amy Spiers, who leads the Contemporary Art and Social Transformation (CAST) Research Group in RMIT’s School of Art, will facilitate a panel of women to discuss how the artwork and this year’s IWD theme resonate with them.

This event will be held in person at Swanston Library and will be livestreamed for anyone to access. For those attending in person, light refreshments will follow.

Join us to experience art, discussion and reflection as we champion visibility, equity and creative expression for all women. 

About the piece

This year’s theme highlights the ongoing need for gender equity, representation and fair opportunities for women across society. Through powerful visual storytelling and performance, Vatanajyankur’s The Scale of Justice (2016) playfully and critically examines women’s roles, labour and the structures that shape the female experience – drawing attention to persistent imbalances and mapping out pathways to a fairer world, where the concept of balance becomes a powerful metaphor for change.

Artwork with bright pink background and woman balanced on a beam imitating the scale of justice The Scale of Justice, 2016 HD Video Loop RMIT University Art Collection Accession no: RMIT.2016.70

About the artist

Kawita Vatanajyankur is a contemporary visual artist living and working in Thailand. Her practice incorporates physically demanding performance within saturated, colourful settings. These sets aim to seduce the viewer, drawing them in beyond a façade of contentment to reveal the arduous nature of domestic labour and inequality. In this work, Kawita transforms her own body into a mechanised object, using the metaphor of scales to investigate gender, equality and labour. 

Register now

Venue: Rocking Chair Lounge, Building 12 Level 6 Room 105 (012.06.105). Enter via Building 10 (Library staff can assist).

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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