COMMUNICATION-Idea(s)
The idea is to have a physical representation of my personal relation to Fibre, the journeys it took me through, inspiring stories I encountered, and ways in which all of these are connected to each other. Inspired by Abakanowicz’s 3D quality of her textile work, I wish to add a sculptural element to my artist book by using woven pop-ups and threads connecting pages to one another.
introduction to Fibre- origin of interest in storytelling
Starting with Fibre as one big ‘empty’ word, I connected it to my first introduction to it: a piece of rope that I found on the ground in the forest. I was walking in a group with other children, with a storyteller in front telling us that every object/thing living or not around us is a story. I picked up the rope and asked: is this a story? to which she answered, yes.
Storytelling- notion of time passing - textile/fibre allusions in literature for storytelling purposes- history- cotton
Story is then connected to many other thoughts, the notion of time passing, terms related to fibre/yarn as a means to tell a story, stories related to history (because of my own background and carribean heritage, slavery, sugar cane then cotton)
introducing cotton-cotton’s story- weaving- weaving with different materials (their stories)
from cotton and slavery, I moved on to the textile industry provided by cotton and slavery, industrial weaving, went back to traditional ‘home’ weaving, weaving with different materials/fibres.
introducing weaving and communication-patterns-codes-braiding
from weaving with different materials (such as hair) I then looked at weaving as forms of communication, patterns and pattern-making (the Quipu of South America, braiding escape routes on slaves’ hair, the invisible math that goes in to pattern-making of braiding and weaving).
traditional weaving techniques and their derivatives- industry - re-using all local materials- fibreshed- indigenous knowledge
we move from weaving as forms of communication back traditional weaving techniques and their derivatives (felting, waulking songs), to home-sewing businesses and their derivatives (paper-making using old rags), using every part of the material, re-using materials, indigenous knowledge of how this is part of the holistic approach to a craft .
traditional knowledge- botany and plants- natural dyes and pigments knowledge
we have a lot to learn from traditional knowledge on plants and their uses, I focused my research to Norway, and collected it in my wandering botanical book.
my personal relation to natural dyes and pigments-surface design- pattern
presentation of tests, samples, ingredients, stories linked to these (?), Norway is predominantly a wool dyer but I wanted to expand it to natural fibre as a whole. worked on wool and cotton so far.
wool as a material- wool industry- knitting-spinning (knitted wool ‘pages?)
stories related to wool, industry of wool, knitting, my personal relation to knitting, knitting tests
wool as a material, waulking songs- carpet weaving in Iran - singing- patterns- cultural knowledge- passing on of knowledge- link back to first page (?)
cultural traditions surrounding wool, how knowledge is passed on in the form of singing. My own experienced of past-on knowledge (in my personal case, three women have shaped my relation to fibre, Granny Thompson, Granny and Aunty Vetty), which together with the ‘origin’ of my fibre interest have shaped my personal relation to fibre.