"An Old Friend" (2013)

Gallery Statement From the joint Exhibition "Homeworks" 2014, Puke Ariki, New Plymouth:
The mechanisation of laundry tasks freed up many hours for the average housewife. Viv Davy's tapestry of an old wringer washing machine - rendered in incredible detail - might evoke nostalgia for the good old days. But her "old friend" also brings with it an air of menace. Looming large on a black background, the rusty metallic form appears almost alive, a sinister figure about to eat your fingers. The bone-crushing reality of the wringer washing machine reminds us that is pays to keep nostalgia in perspective.

This tapestry uses a wide range of fibers - wool, silk, cotton, acrylic, linen. The design is an enlargement of an old photographic image.  The scale has been inflated so the machine stands taller that myself, which is taller than the actual machine would have been. There is also a slight horizontal distortion to the image probably due to the restrictions of photography at the time the original photo was taken.

This piece is in the permanent collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, New Zealand.



"An Old Friend" being woven. The image was "cartooned" horizontally, with the photographic enlargement placed behind the warp on the frame loom.

Weaving in Progress

"An Old Friend"