The specification was for a piece 3.5m by 0.5m with at least 80% natural fire and in muted colours. I had no trouble with the “muted” bit since I prefer to work with natural dyes. The SIZE terrified me, however.
In the end, I decided to make my piece in modules so it could be hung in a domestic setting (mine). It combined my love of natural dyeing with my urge to use text and told the story of the economic, health, industrial and agricultural issues around the production and use of fibres such as will, cotton, silk, sisal and bamboo.
The picture above shows six of the modules hanging in my hallway. All pieces have an equally detailed back as they were hung so that viewers could walk all around them.
Below are some detail shots of a few of the modules. Fabric was hand dyed with pomegranate, tea, wandoo bark or avocado pips. Other fabric was given an iron wash and rusted or painted over using a flour resist and/ or home made stamps. Text from the official site of the International Year of the Natural Fibre was transferred to commercial fabric purchased for the purpose and then hand dyed.fabric. The work incorporates labels from clothing, hand woven fabrics, buttons and fabric manipulation. Above all, there is a lot of ma
Horace 