Heavy Joy
In these fabric constructions, tones of blue, images of the eye, ghostly traces, and collage assembly suggest the nighttime activities of the imagination. The eye symbolizes many attributes. Open, it suggests vigilance, clairvoyance, judgment, or moral conscience. Closed it can mean deceit, willful blindness, absence, or submission. Altered text references the constant blur of voices, internal and external, that entangle with fantasy and myth at the edge of sleep. Disembodied facial features and limbs, combined with animal bodies, serve as metaphors for the fragmentation and impermanence of the self.
I transfer these images to fabric using photographic and print techniques such as cyanotype, silkscreen, and relief printing. Each fabric element is hand-dyed using traditional tied and sewn resist techniques. I then collage the elements together using sewing and appliqué. Reconstructing a larger work from smaller pieces leads to odd juxtapositions and imperfect joins. Information lost in the seam allowances hints at loosely connected recollections floating through a drowsy mind. This awkwardness reflects a human tendency to interpret events based on extrapolation and personal experience. The soft imagery, joined with crisp edges, suggests an imperfect vision of the world, carefully sorted and grouped. Seen through the subjective lens of individual perception, the same experiences seem fundamentally different to each of us.
This work was created in 2019-2020.