Last week I was at the opening of the Threads exhibition at the Arnhem Museum of modern arts. Here you see me standing in front of an installation featuring an antique sewing machine and acrylic yarn. And yes, I'm wearing my Deer and Doe Plantain.
Life of thread, Chiharu Shiota |
Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota creates her own
spaces by stretching hundreds of threads through the room. The threads compose a
labyrinth, which can be seen as a reflection of the choices one has to make at each
intersection. For some, the installations are a threatening presence, but the
stability of the structure can also be reassuring and provide protection. Central
to the work of Shiota are the themes of memory, dreams and fears. In Life of thread the sewing machine in the middle seems to produce the treads and is
simultaneously caught in it's own product.
Walking around it I could both see it as a very cosy sewing cocoon or as a scary scene from a Hitchcock movie. You know, the one where sewing machines take over the world and you get strangled by your own bobbin thread.
A sewn statue |
Recycle by Faig Ahmed |
This piece shows the sacrifices that have
to be made when tradition is being reused or modernised. Ahmed cut a 150 year
old carpet in pieces, arranging them in the global symbol of recycling.
Hand embroidery on found photograph by Julie Cockburn |
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