Why Bind?
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 politics of women's voices, our physical bodies bound in societal restrictions and how we channel anger when we do not find space for it, or are forbidden to have it.Women spoke about their marriages, their culture and its gender politics, their hair...
So far we have had no men attend the sessions, which is unfortunate.
The result, however, is a metamorphed, stronger, textured piece of fabric full of the vibrations from the conversations, and colour that is sculpted into vines and floral impressions.
Fabric transformed. Anger expressed. Transformation tree purpose fulfilled.
The Tree is growing still, as at the opening preview and the Urban Dialogues ~Festival night programmed by Lyrix Organics, many came to bind and chat with Cherrelle and I. It was a magical experience.
You can view the piece at The Red Gallery until 14th October 2013, from 12pm - 7pm.
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.
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 politics of women's voices, our physical bodies bound in societal restrictions and how we channel anger when we do not find space for it, or are forbidden to have it.Women spoke about their marriages, their culture and its gender politics, their hair...
So far we have had no men attend the sessions, which is unfortunate.
The result, however, is a metamorphed, stronger, textured piece of fabric full of the vibrations from the conversations, and colour that is sculpted into vines and floral impressions.
Fabric transformed. Anger expressed. Transformation tree purpose fulfilled.The Tree is growing still, as at the opening preview and the Urban Dialogues ~Festival night programmed by Lyrix Organics, many came to bind and chat with Cherrelle and I. It was a magical experience.
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