melting words
embroidery with cotton thread on linen canvas, 30 x 30 cm, 150 cm, 2023
Melting words consists of an embroidery made with cotton thread on linen canvas. The work arises from a reflection on different possibilities of touch: symbolic touches, being touched by words, being covered by a hearing memory.
melting words at the ma fine art: drawing pop up exhibition @ camberwell college of arts, december 2023
process
Usually, the starting point of a work is an idea or reflection of something I've imagined, remembered or was somehow presented to, creating space to test materials and forms of making. This time, it started from the material. I bought the linen canvas still unsure about what I was going to do with it, yet immensely attracted to the texture and color.
“Did some sketches and decided what to do with the linen canvas. Thinking about different formats of touch. Symbolic touch. Being touched by words. Melting, fading away. Memory of this moment. Memory of sound. ‘I remember his voice’.
Blue thread? Blue reminds me of water; water reminds me of tears. The thread running/falling from the canvas, until it reaches the floor, is like the flow of tears falling from the face? Perhaps white thread? Since water doesn’t really have color.
White as a symbolic transparency? White as fading away when in touch/in relation to the white wall. Stepping in this memory, that is present in my everyday life. The voices of others, my own voice, his voice. The voice of my thoughts.
This is just a random flow of thoughts, but sometimes is useful to understand the full range of layers that the work can evoke.” (05.11.23)
artist's journal, 2023
sketchbook & process, 2023
After settling the image, I decided to utilize a white thread to create a contrast with the brown-ish surface, still maintaining the idea of "transparency" when the thread overflows the canvas and enters in a dialogue with the white wall behind the work. Moreover, the color of the linen reminded me of a rock or a floor, something of nature that is structured and hard, while the white thread aims to bring a sense of maleability and flow, of something changeable and in movement.
The position of the canvas on the wall in an average height, so the thread can still reach the floor, became part of the installation. As it reaches the floor and runs to the front, away from the wall, it also disrupts the passage of people - or incorporates them into it, by stepping on the thread. Initially, the idea was for the threads to be separated as they'd "fall" from the canvas, but the knots that formed in the process encouraged me to incorporate this thread's characteristic of mixing with each other. Therefore, I decided that it would be interesting to leave them naturally together as a river that flows, or something that melts.
During the group critique, I was told that the work was not only optic, but also haptic. This connects directly to the subject of touch that I'm exploring. It was said that it looked like something was happening in between when looking at the figures, that it could be about time, and that the thread running out of the canvas looked like it was seeking connection, continuing a journey. I think that the point of view of others can always add a lot to the meanings of the work and how I end up perceiving it as well. I feel like I started paying more attention to the space around the work too, which is something I aim to explore deeper in the future.
work displayed in the pop up show, 2023