Yes indeed...
it almost sounds like a contradiction to be
speaking about anger and then using a craft like binding fabric to
illustrate and dispel anger. We have been confronted with this question many times
by members of the public who saw us metaphorically restricting anger when we
should be releasing anger.
But here is where we have found it interesting.
We have decided to flip the concept of binding in this context from being confining or painful, to a device for transformation. This is what this phase of the project is called after all.
So we take a flat piece of fabric, we roll it, winding cotton around it to hold it fast, using varying tension. Then people would billow it, puff it up in areas, add sifferent coloured and patterned fabric, they made shapes, flowers, fish! All of this transformative energy revealed to the binder and expressive part of their anger they didn't know they existed or needed to express. All the while stories are exchanged - chat about the politi…