Textile Work

Stargazing

A dreamy landscape to invite contemplation, an ode to those nights of wonder. Made with cashmere and lace offcuts from Brighton Lace. 

Who's Going to Believe You?

October is domestic violence awareness month. I made this piece in response to @youngeuromove 's Open Call. In their own words: "YEM's Break the Silence to End the Violence campaign aims to combat gender based violence (GBV) by empowering women through equal gender representation in parliament, we also aim to raise awareness of the intersectional nature of GBV which disproportionally affects women from persecuted minorities." 

About the piece: when a victim speaks out, one of the most common response is to ask them, "Why didn't you say anything?" There are endless reasons why the target of violence cannot say anything, usually related to safety. Especially if the violence occurred in childhood, as a child the words and feelings are not accessible to describe the situation. There might be no notion of what safety and "normal" look and feel like. There might be enormous loyalty towards the abuser. Psychologically, emotionally, children simply do not have the tools and hindsight to understand a situation with clarity. It should never be their job to work this stuff out. Regardless of age, blame should never enter the equation, resources should instead focus on re-establishing safety and support. I wanted to raise awareness of that problem and flip the question. Maybe as an outsider you knew something was going on... Why didn't you say anything?

The choice of cuddly grey materials ripped and grossly stitched back together show the life-draining and soul-destroying effect that chronic violence has on a person, and the immense dedication of time, skills and healing it takes to learn how to repair properly and re-establish safety and comfort, both inside and out.