Newspaper Tapestries
In 2010, after a self-imposed six month sabbatical during which time I focused exclusively on the private world of my new family, I started looking for something new and exciting. I live in a small town out in the countryside and since living here have developed a fairly solitary lifestyle. Ironically, through this I have become even more aware of the news and gossip that flows through the community like life’s blood. In this small community it is easy to see how quickly a piece of news travels and how it affects people quite unrelated to the initial event.
Another aspect of my country life is the greater awareness I have developed of the physical, earthly world around me. In the city it is easier to forget that wheat grows in fields and grapes are harvested from vines. It is necessary for us all to live closer to the earth and to develop a deeper concern for the health of our environment. Yes, I have jumped on the re-cycling band wagon and feel it should be an obvious part of our way of life. In order to deal with the accumulation of newspaper in my house I experimented with dying and spinning it. Eventually when I could spin it fine enough I saw the potential for it to become a tapestry medium and promptly became obsessed.
Hence the development of Altered Yarns, a body of work which reflects our interconnected dependence on others, how their lives and stories influence us and form a process which recycles the litter of our lives into a lush and beautiful story-telling medium.
Visually and conceptually these works reflect how stories weave themselves around us influencing what we do and how we think. Without being aware of the words news, gossip and other peoples’ successes and tragedies which form the background fabric of our everyday lives. They filter through to us and affect our thinking and the way we live. In this way stories form the backbone of our society.
Tapestry itself is traditionally a form of story telling. In this case the medium, threads made from handspun newspaper, literally contain peoples’ stories, sometimes even those from our own experience. Like the paper they are printed on, these used up and discarded tales have been reinvented and recycled, woven back and forth in an intricate pattern to form images which then in turn create a new contemporary narrative.
Please click on the following links for information on the following solo exhibitions:
Altered Yarns shown at Spier in 2012
Revelation: Stories and Secrets Disclosed held at CIRCA, Johannesburg 2015
Another aspect of my country life is the greater awareness I have developed of the physical, earthly world around me. In the city it is easier to forget that wheat grows in fields and grapes are harvested from vines. It is necessary for us all to live closer to the earth and to develop a deeper concern for the health of our environment. Yes, I have jumped on the re-cycling band wagon and feel it should be an obvious part of our way of life. In order to deal with the accumulation of newspaper in my house I experimented with dying and spinning it. Eventually when I could spin it fine enough I saw the potential for it to become a tapestry medium and promptly became obsessed.
Hence the development of Altered Yarns, a body of work which reflects our interconnected dependence on others, how their lives and stories influence us and form a process which recycles the litter of our lives into a lush and beautiful story-telling medium.
Visually and conceptually these works reflect how stories weave themselves around us influencing what we do and how we think. Without being aware of the words news, gossip and other peoples’ successes and tragedies which form the background fabric of our everyday lives. They filter through to us and affect our thinking and the way we live. In this way stories form the backbone of our society.
Tapestry itself is traditionally a form of story telling. In this case the medium, threads made from handspun newspaper, literally contain peoples’ stories, sometimes even those from our own experience. Like the paper they are printed on, these used up and discarded tales have been reinvented and recycled, woven back and forth in an intricate pattern to form images which then in turn create a new contemporary narrative.
Please click on the following links for information on the following solo exhibitions:
Altered Yarns shown at Spier in 2012
Revelation: Stories and Secrets Disclosed held at CIRCA, Johannesburg 2015