Home, home
2021 . 21" x 35" . Maple leaves and silk
This piece was for an Indigenous Visual Culture course called 'Languages and the Land' taught by Susan Blight.
How do you enter the land?
When I think about this prompt, I wish to approach the land as an equal. I wish to hear the land’s voice, to listen to its agency. I wish to interact with the land as a friend, where both of us feel heard, uplifted and loved. This course has taught me to uplift the land, recognize and map my place in the space that I occupy, and to give back to the land. My first step in creating this relationship is communication.
This piece is created by steam dyeing leaves. In this way, the land is imprinting and telling its story on the cloth. I have done nothing to the fabric other than lay the leaves and scour to allow for the best dye results. The leaves were collected once the tree had already shed them for the season. The visuals created are entirely made by the land–how it chooses to express itself in colours, textures, forms.
The leaves come from two trees that grow on the land of both of my homes–one Japanese maple for my childhood home in Mississauga and one Canadian maple for my current home in Toronto. I arranged the leaves in horizontal lines, like writing. Through this piece I wish to highlight the voice of the land on which I reside, to thank it for housing me for my 20 years, and to continue our journey to equality.
Weave Samples
2021 . Various materials and sizes
The theme for my samples is reconsidering mistakes. In my work this translates to repurposing materials from previous mistakes or experimenting with techniques that could be thought of as mistakes. A common pattern in my practice is a fear of mistakes inhibiting exploration and innovation. Through this series I wanted to embrace mistakes in the hopes of broadening my ideas and skills.
Incorporated in sample Defend are porcupine quills from the Dye course. They were meant to be dyed with natural dye but my dye did not stick. Here I highlight them through changes in weave pattern and Italian inlay. In sample Fray I used cardstock when weaving to create a large gap, into which I then cut a hole. Cutting the warp seemed a daunting and taboo action, however this hole is the centre of the composition. I also experimented with tension and beating differences. Mend includes plastic strips in straight wrapping. The mistake lies in the purchasing of single-use plastic. The dual coloured warp served to create an interesting composition as if the plastic strips are mending a hole between two panels. Construct contains strips of cotton canvas from a failed sewing project that shrunk in the wash, and Compose contains strips of a failed drawing from the Drawing for MAAD course. Cement was a basic weave that I attempted to felt. I associate felting with mistakes–an accidental wash/dry that alters the form and size of a piece. However when this piece shrank, it became more compact, stronger. The purple yarn was from the Dye course as well, dyed with logwood. The same yarn is used in Defend. Adapt is the last in the series, using yarns from failed attempts from the knit machine project. I adopted a water motif for this piece to reiterate the main theme of the series. Water can flow and adapt around or through surroundings; it can fall and be stopped. Yet it continues to create.
Wrap Blouse
2019 . Upcycled tablecloth
Crochet
Various materials and sizes.
