In Colander (2016), Kawita Vatanajyankur addresses the physical and emotional strain of domestic labor by embodying a kitchen tool—a noodle strainer. Captured in a single, unbroken take, the performance demands extreme physical endurance. Vatanajyankur repeatedly plunges her head into a pot of water, mimicking the action of cooking noodles. To sustain this grueling action, she employed breathing techniques borrowed from synchronized swimming, highlighting both the repetitive labor and the mental focus such tasks require. Colander is a key work within Vatanajyankur’s Work Series, where she reimagines herself as various instruments of food production. Throughout the series, she stages actions such as boxing eggs, weighing vegetables, and straining noodles—transforming routine, unseen labor into acts of intense physicality. The performances are visually striking, echoing the bold aesthetics of advertising, but beneath the vivid surfaces lies an unflinching confrontation with the demands placed on the human body in domestic and industrial contexts.

By pushing her own body to its limits, Vatanajyankur draws attention to the often invisible labor carried out by women, particularly in her native Thailand. Her work blurs the boundary between human and machine, questioning how repetitive tasks mechanize and erase individuality. The vivid, almost seductive imagery lures viewers in, only to reveal the intense, sometimes brutal realities hidden beneath everyday acts of care and production. Through a fusion of visual seduction and physical endurance, Vatanajyankur offers a powerful commentary on the intersections of labor, gender, and societal expectation. Her performances serve as both homage and critique, making visible the unseen forces that shape daily life and exposing the enduring inequalities embedded within structures of work.