To bind,to form through bringing together. The lines bind the fractured patterns in to what is left of a semblance. The patterns of the everyday bind the time passing, the inhabitants of the city, the city to the earth. it is in binding that histories are created and manufactured, families are formed, cultures emerge, radicalism, activism, socialism. Binding is what moves life forward, circulating the earth as the stitches weave through the fibres of the substrate.Book-binding, book construction, book folding, book making...it has a place in my practice, bringing together thread, paper, geometry, process.Moving away from the stitched books I have made previously (see work review post), the pieces called out folding, moving back to the construction of the walls in space (see post).Initially I folded instinctively.Creating a simple book from one sheet of screen-print, simply folding and slicing a divide in the middle. With no specific beginning or end the book allows the patterns to be fractured and layered repeatedly.
paper 33cm x 24cm, screen-printed, folded to 12cm sq - then folded in half.
Referencing Coates embroidery book, considering other stitches... but choose to continue with chain stitch, although changed to reverse chain stitch as the paper was not as flexible as the fabric I usually work with is. Note to look for Tambour needle in Dubai. (UPDATE 30/11/2017: no Tambour needles available, manage to find a Ari needle, this doesn't have a latch to hold the thread in and is super fiddly, will need to practice).
Began with the Japanese 24221 paper. Has a fabric like texture and although looks delicate and translucent it has a sturdy fibrous feel.
The technique created anxiety as I was concerned that the paper would tear while stitching which meant the process was longer than stitching on fabric.It is this physical and mental tension that I find stimulating, linking back to the elements of communities within cities jostling and looking for balance, one slight misalignment and chaos, in a manner, can result. The next piece was the Akashi-Ya paper.This paper was a little more fragile and also more fibrous but not as bonded, hence the fragility.
scissors beneath the paper to show the translucency. paper, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
This need pre-marking with holes. I've been doing it with the other papers for ease but I could stitch them without punching first, the acetate is tough though. It's ridges and, of course, plastic rather than paper. It's transparency is almost too much though, not providing any muting of a layer beneath, rendering the fractures to be seen on the at the space opacity but with some distance of the layers if spacers are used. Acetate does also come in matte which I believe provides some opacity but the texture at the moment is lost on my. there is no sensuality of the touch, it doesn't bring texture to the fractures, it mimics the slickness of the city. Due to this I will not be using it for future experiments other than as a transfer medium for printing etc. The acetate is also unforgiving because you can see the back of the work, the threads hanging and and the 'temporary' knots that I'm too lazy to stitch in to the work to hide! oops!
scissors beneath to show transparency. acetate, cotton, 33cm x 24cm,
a much thicker paper out of the ones used so far. too thick and large to attach to the embroidery hoop, also this is not helpful as the paper needs to be turned to complete the stitches as it is very difficult to guide the needle through without looking. The 'translucent' term here is slightly misleading as it really isn't particularly translucent, maybe slightly thinner than standard printer paper.
Screen-print testing in the studio on papers. Trials on Japanese papers to see how they respond to the ink before they are stitched. A couple of screens did not expose well as the Japanese papers were not transparent enough/the exposure wasn't long enough. I have exposed with tracing paper and printer paper before but not in this studio so I was reluctant to push the technician out of their comfort zone.
I used black ink and then as it ran out I blended in white to create a variegated effect and eventual subtleness of the print in white on the white paper. Time was limited so I managed 20 pints on the Japanese papers.
I also created 3 'play' prints on standard A3 cartridge paper making noise by moving the screen around the paper haphazardly between print layers, I also did this while the ink was wet so ink was picked up and moved by the screen in the masked areas.
Screen-printing seemed like a natural process for work lead by repetition and meditation. ink, print, repeat. I enjoy the quiet of the process, but also the way it can create visual noise through layering. However the prints themselves feel quite lifeless, flat and uninspiring.
Initial thoughts are for the screen prints to be used a 'noise' or background, perhaps have elements of the fractures drawn out in stitch, embellished or embossed by the thread. Or to use them to create book forms, perhaps fracturing the pattern down further through folding.I opted to use a far more complex fracture for the screen printing, lengthening the process due to time taken to draw out the patterns. Perhaps a better option would be to screen print the simplified fractured patterns as overlays, but this does not sit well at the moment, they feel precious, like they need to be protected... perhaps even... 'elite', higher in status than the other fractured patterns and therefore tended to in a different manner.
Regarding thoughts of the work, is to make the layers seem 'touchable' to bring the city and its hierarchal levels 'within reach' - sensual qualities of materials important to re-import the sensuality of data removed from quantitive research.
As a consequence fragments of paper in slightly abstracted shapes remained. These were then pieced together to create an unrelated fragmentation.
To re-form, these were transferred to the sketchbook to create a unified look.
An app called Scannable was used to create high contrast images, removing the noise from the page and paper texture. An interesting emergence considering that the images themselves are chaotic and noisy, but the feeling of the crisp background giving a quiet note to the pieces.
Comparing these to previous fractures, they have a lot of detail missing, are far more simple while still alluding to the repetition of geometry. How far can they be fractured and still maintain the essence of repetition?