Abstract
My submission for the exhibition call ‘Cosy’ is a lap-sized handmade quilt, featuring the words: “What if it had all been so different?”
Quilts are synonymous with comfort, warmth and home. When we think of a quilt we think of our personal domestic space, of our beds, our children’s cribs, of cosy nights, of sleep and of intimate union. The time it takes to make a handmade quilt is also an act that holds the care and thought of the maker. It evokes memories, perhaps of those who made it or in the witnessing of favourite fabrics, pieced into a patchwork of colours.
The posing of a question within this context of comfort is unsettling. The quilt lulls us into a sense of security, which is immediately upended. The ambiguity of the question unsettles us further too. We wonder what happened, why ‘different’ is asked; did they wish for something else? It suggests a story past, an experience remembered. We wonder if perhaps it was something intimate, based on our knowing of this cloth. Perhaps it was loss, perhaps love, perhaps a child. We are invited to fill in the gaps ourselves, to insert our own uncomfortable memories into the void.
To be wrapped in a quilt is to be cosy, to be asked about ‘different’ in that context is uncomfortable.
Quilts are synonymous with comfort, warmth and home. When we think of a quilt we think of our personal domestic space, of our beds, our children’s cribs, of cosy nights, of sleep and of intimate union. The time it takes to make a handmade quilt is also an act that holds the care and thought of the maker. It evokes memories, perhaps of those who made it or in the witnessing of favourite fabrics, pieced into a patchwork of colours.
The posing of a question within this context of comfort is unsettling. The quilt lulls us into a sense of security, which is immediately upended. The ambiguity of the question unsettles us further too. We wonder what happened, why ‘different’ is asked; did they wish for something else? It suggests a story past, an experience remembered. We wonder if perhaps it was something intimate, based on our knowing of this cloth. Perhaps it was loss, perhaps love, perhaps a child. We are invited to fill in the gaps ourselves, to insert our own uncomfortable memories into the void.
To be wrapped in a quilt is to be cosy, to be asked about ‘different’ in that context is uncomfortable.
Original language | English |
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Place of Publication | Melbourne, Australia |
Size | 90cm x 90cm |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2021 |
Event | Cosy: Platform Exhibitions - 2 Wreckyn Street,,North Melbourne,3051,AU, Melbourne, Australia, Melbourne, Australia Duration: 28 Nov 2021 → … |