Fragments

I started a project that has been on my mind recently, its just a self indulgent bit of experimenting without agenda or intention. I have always been interested in texture, as most artists involved in textiles are, it is in its very nature a tactile art form which is one of the main pulls towards this medium.

It started out as a way for me to keep the creative part of my brain active and my fingers from getting twitchy but as my investigations have evolved I have discovered that this theme of 'Fragments' is very topical at present. As I was tearing apart paper and cloth to explore and interpret an image which had inspired me (see images below) it occurred to me that at this terrible and trying time, all of our lives have also become 'fragmented'.  We are torn apart from our family and loved ones, the careers and lifestyles that we have worked hard to achieve have been stripped away and we are most definitely feeling fractured from what was our normality. As I began to stitch the torn pieces of fabric back together I examined the way that although it was developing into one piece of material once more, there was always going to be evidence of the damage caused from tearing it apart. When our lives do finally return to its pre-pandemic ways, I believe that like my torn and fragmented fabric, our lives will permanently be scarred by this terrible virus, our families have been fragmented and kept apart, our businesses, careers and lives torn away,  and our priorities altered or re-evaluated.