Mum's Skirt (2014)

This piece was created over a superstructure of upscaled high tensile fencing grid. Panels were shaped to fit the grids of the wire, created out of layers of papers and fibers in differing wax coatings. These were then attached to the form, overlapping each other to create a layered look like a layered or frilled skirt I remember my Mother making with me.

The panels were created out of materials that reminded me of my Mother, especially as she taught me my sewing skills. They became sites for my memories to be built up. Fragments accruing to make a total that can never be recalled at once completely but only by revisiting, re-viewing multiple times.
Text imbedded within the materials recall truisms from my childhood.

The gradation of the layers speaks to the multiple facets of my Mother as a person, my specific daughter relationship with her, and all the things I never knew about her as a person because of the nature of that relationship. The deep experiences that composed her adult life that made her who she was to me but that were really unknown to me, forever lost, never shared.

Although this piece celebrates my Mother it is tinged with the sadness I felt running through her person, especially as she aged.

To Daph. The best ever.


My Artist's statement about this work

A superstructure of upscaled high tensile fencing grid resonates with the amazing inner strength of my Mother. The complexities of the layered panels reference the depth of understanding and wide ranging perspectives my Mother viewed the world with - an unusually rich intuitive insight into the society she dwelt in.  The "fit" of my Mother to her enclosing world was not always comfortable or secure and the irregular nature of the created panels and their attachment to the wire reflects this.

My Mother was a tactile fabric connoisseur which she transmitted into my being, informing my artistic practice. Careful attention to the details, the differences, the celebration of nuances were all part of her engagement with textiles, and with her entire experience of living. Creating beauty out of limited resources was her trademark.

Although this piece celebrates my Mother it is tinged with the sadness I felt running through her person, especially as she aged.

To Daph. The best ever.