júlia mazzoni

As a way to materialize the expansion of the drawing, besides utilizing threads, there was also an experimentation with a range of materials: different fabrics, papers, canvases. The transparency aspect appeared, during this experimentation period, as a new possibility of expansion, so that the focus is on the line, on the trajectory of the thread that turns visible from both sides of the surface.

 

The initial reference, reflections and interest for the transparency emerged through the song Diphylleia grayi, from the South Korean singer-songwriter Jonghyun. The title of the song is the scientific name of the popularly known “skeleton flower”, that consists in an opaque white flower that, when it comes into contact with water, becomes transparent and exposes the “inside” part of its petals. The lyrics of the song consist of a metaphor for life and the passage of time based on this phenomenon of transparency, as expressed in the excerpt: “over time, even the white petals will wither without remembering that they were once transparent” (KIM, 2015).

 

The phenomenon of this flower evoked on me reflections about intimacy, something that is situated in a threshold territory between interior and exterior, similar to what the transparent surface recalled beforehand. It made me reflect on the possibility of turning visible what is usually not accessed - the intimacy itself.

 

The ideas that originated from this starting point, became, then, a conceptual subject of my research. Between interior and exterior, public and private, between the side that is easily seen and the one that is more difficult to access. And, at the same time, allowing the memory of the process to become visible, when working with embroidery - since it gives the possibility to see the back of the fabric, and therefore, to see my own body through it while working.

 

Another reference is the work of Mira Schendel. Transparency and translucent characteristics permeated the artist’s practice. With works suspended between layers of papers, glasses and other surfaces, Schendel played with the translucent nature of the materials (STOUT, 2014), reflecting on the subjects of language, life and the universe.

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"To speak within these classical contexts of bodies that matter is not an idle pun, for to be material means to materialize, where the principle of that materialization is precisely what ‘matters’ about that body, its very intelligibility. In this sense, to know the significance of something is to know how and why it matters, where ‘to matter’ means at once ‘to materialize’ and ‘to mean’." (BUTLER, 1993, p.121). Being aware of the materiality gives meaning to it.

 

To be able to see my hands stitching behind the transparent surface is also to be always conscious about my bodily existence, my presence in the world. And the stitches are the proof, the memory of that process of being present in the materiality. There is also the relation between body and fabric; in portuguese, "fabric" and "tissue" are the same word: tecido. The material I'm working with is connected to my own body, in some way. With this, I feel that everything intertwines and forms a connection between the portrayed figures.

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References

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BUTLER, J. (1993) Bodies that matter, in LANGE-BERNDT, Petra. (ed.) Materiality (Documents of Contemporary Art). London: Whitechapel Gallery.

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KIM, J. (2015). Diphylleia grayi. Seoul: SM Entertainment.

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Mira Schendel (1972) Untitled (Disks) [Transfer lettering and graphite on paper between acrylic sheets, 4 pins and nylon fishing wire]. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/schendel-untitled-disks-t13708 (Accessed: 24 nov. 2023).

 

STOUT, K. (2015). Contemporary Drawing: From the 1960s to Now. London: Tate Publishing.