Journal-isms (2020- on-going)
Journal-isms is a growing body of work using a range of media from textiles, embroidery, printmaking and installations.
In our world of complex systems with ever increasing layers of ambiguity, and the seeming impossibility of holding anyone or anything to account, I am holding onto the feel of the paper and the importance of language, to transfer tangible connections to those who help us to speak truth to power into stitched textile and printed work.
I have been making time for deeper contemplation through hand stitching journalists wise words that get drowned out by so much needing to be said.Fetching a hammer and pins to place the fragments on a wall I am celebrating the language and isms of iniquities and outrages.
Inspired by a daily reading of the Guardian Journal. The salmon pink pages of the Journal host moments of complete absorption in identifying the significant turns of phrase that I do not want to become lost in dusty archives or fed to the incinerator of time.I have developed a journal-ism of narratives hidden between the lines, telling an alternative, quieter and often more contemplative narrative of systems and systems failures that shape our lives.
Wanting to hold onto words and phrases that resonate I have developed work that engages with the throw away poetics, absurdities, the seemingly inconsequential sentences of great meaning, destined for the recycling bin.I value the utterances and word smithing of journalists who tirelessly bring us close to the action of wars, worlds in crisis, making sense of iniquities and outrages of what we are doing to ourselves and others.
In moments of darkness I find a lightness of touch, a humour. A phrase taken out of context gives it a sense of its own being, a light relief making a point with great clarity.
