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PARENT FOLDER, 2014

Part of the larger multi-media Parent Folder project. See the video component, the performance component and the text component separately.

 

These weavings were produced as introductory research in complex Jacquard structures (CMYK colour warp) conducted as part of the Weaving Data Research Group led by Kelly Thompson, with intensive instruction by Louise Lemieux-Bérubé (Montreal, Quebec). In this project, downloaded surveillance data (motion-detection images) were translated to woven cloth.

OTHER JACQUARD WEAVINGS

DEVOUR, 2012

silk organza, wool felt, waxed linen

12" x 12" x 1"

Collection of Marissa Neave, Montreal

HOCKEY FIGHT IN CANADA, 2011

Typing in ‘hockey’ to the search function on YouTube generates a long list of video clips that glorify the violence of NHL hockey games. Top comments from online viewers, such as: “if your gonna fight take your helmets off haha”, “OMG someone please kill them all!!!”, “boxin on ice :P shud be a new sport”, and “lol, #7 dude in green t shirt has such a vagina face ! the only one which was serious was #1, the dude in white knows how to fight... punches straight to the face” reveal a dominant part of the culture and mentality surrounding hockey in Canada. In recent years, news about research on repeat concussions and the long-term damage done to hockey players’ brains, tells us that hockey violence is a self-perpetuating cycle.

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Each panel is a digital photograph taken of the artist’s computer screen while YouTube videos of hockey games were playing. Each panel is titled with the name of the YouTube video from which it was captured. The cursor in some of the images is to recall the spectator, of the active role the viewer plays in promoting this particular form of violence.

SPACE INVADERS, 2007

FEMILIAR, 2001-03

Traditional textile techniques are used to explore and exploit notions of ‘women’s work’, femininity, gender identity and cultural taboo. This was done utilizing human hair as a fibre in the construction of clothing or textile-based items, as well as other objects associated with the realm of domesticity and women’s work. These ‘artifacts’ stand to represent the female body as the main site for exploration, in order to reference or embody changing ideas and boundaries around a woman’s physical place in society, as well as her own sense of self. Here, textile practices function as a subversive language for relating the female experience, how perceptions and taboos around body/ hair influence identity, and how these elements relate in terms of a cultural narrative.

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*Full description of works below the image panel.

BLOODLINE

Computer-loom woven bronson lace banner with embedded structural text, dyed with menstrual blood and cross-stitched with strands of human hair. Cross-stitched with the names of the artist's grandmother, great-grandmother and great, great-grandmother. 135" full length. Full installation includes ironing board and wall shelf with vintage family photos.

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MATRIMONIAL BEDSHEETS

Orlon, cotton, human hair, silk, tulle, blood

Triptych of three full-sized handwoven bedsheets with a slit woven into the middle of each, in order to recreate a dowry item based on orthodox religious tradition. The matrimonial bedsheets would have been used on the first night of marriage, with the bride beneath, and the marriage consummated through the slit in order to prevent the man being tainted by the woman's body and/or sexuality. The bedsheets in this triptych progressively bring to the surface what is meant to be hidden underneath. Includes doubleweave trim details and machine embroidery. Embellished with couched human hair, silk, tulle and spot-dyed with menstrual blood.

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DREADED CORPS BALEINE

Handspun human hair yarn woven with dreadlocks into a striped cloth, fashioned into a corduroy-lined corset, complete with a hair rope lacing up the back.

This piece is featured in Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinning.

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PUBESCENCE

Found slip, couched human hair, found crinoline, found shoes, minipads stained with menstrual blood, found hanger.

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MOURNING BONNET

Handspun human hair, crocheted into a replica 19th century 'mourning bonnet', based on an original in the collection of the York Sunbury Museum in Fredericton, NB.

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BLOOMERS

Handspun human hair and silk, crocheted into old-timey panties. Complete with innocent bloomer ruffles on the bum.

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HAIR PIE

A freshly-baked pie with human hair filling (and hair rolled into the pie crust, too). Sits on a glass cake stand, atop a handspun and crocheted silk and human hair doily.

Read more in this 2006 feature by Leigh Blenkhorn for Green Banana (Humber College).

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SHE'S A TEASE

Handspun human hair, embellishments, found bed frame and found gilt mirror.

FUNCTIONAL TEXTILES

Blanket weaving, handspun yarn, hand-dyed yarn, etc.

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