This is work I have made since September 2014. I'm back to exploring. While I miss weaving, embroidery is so portable, and the incorporation of photographs really appeals to my underlying interest in exploring identity and memory.
The abstract embroideries Memory in Color and One Night are stitched on photographs from the past. When I was in high school in the late 90s and in college in the early 2000s, we used to still get photos printed. Using old-school disposable cameras and film gave us only one chance per shot. If your finger was in front of the viewfinder or flash, you accidentally clicked a picture of the ground or someone's leg, or your hand shook and blurred the image, too bad. You may not even discover your mistake until you got the film developed and saw the effects of your unskilled picture taking.
The photos in these works are leftovers, mistakes, accidents. The teabag on the surface gives the artwork structural integrity so that I can create a thick layer of stitching; adds a physical element to an ephemeral representation of a memory; and, further conceals the already unclear image in the photograph. The stitching on top adds a vibrancy that reminds me of what I see when I close my eyes after looking at a bright light. Like identity, these stitched images are complex and layered. Like memory, these stitched images are not clear and some areas are more vibrant than others.
As I stitched, I realized that these memories are over and that these photos exist nowhere else. I don't have the negatives. The moment they captured has passed and the memory of that moment has blurred.
Memory in Color
3x5", Found Materials
October 2014
One Night
3x5", Found Materials
November 2014
