Throw It All Away ︎︎︎
Using up the remnants makes space for what is next; a clearing out of mind and studio.
Throw It All Away is a quilt I made to reconcile myself with, and let go of the inevitable small failures that come along with trying something new. It is sewn from the offcuts, misprints, rejected experiments and superfluous material that resulted from the process of designing and making my first small collection of handmade printed textile bags.
Taking up textiles as a new medium in my practice has been an experimental process. Throw It All Away is both a repository for the discarded materials resulting from that process, and an attempt to dispel the doubts and fears that went along with their making. The fabrics patch-worked together are almost the entire contents of my scrap bin, a mix of screenprinted and digitally printed cottons; some are offcuts, some are mistakes that I regret printing in the first place. Contained within this waste material are ideas I moved on from, choices I made before changing my mind, and mistakes that represent learning. Material and experience inextricably linked.
Recycling them into new work is a recognition that the fabrics and inks I have used are not throw away commodities. Artist made textiles can present the antithesis of ‘disposable’ fast fashion fabrics; they are rare, personal, considered and cared for, signalling fabric as something to be preserved and cherished. Simultaneously the time and resources that go into the production of experiments and mistakes should never be considered wasted, but as valuable in an ongoing creative process.
︎︎︎ Throw It All Away (2022) ︎︎︎
170 x 270 cm
Quilt with screenprinted and digitally printed fabric
Installation 24 Hour Window Glasgow
170 x 270 cm
Quilt with screenprinted and digitally printed fabric
Installation 24 Hour Window Glasgow