Vas is the Latin word for container, dish or vase, but it is also the word for utensil or instrument, a responsive tool actively bearing what is given. This textile piece is about memory and the act of logging my recent efforts and experiences as they unfold to playback later.
Whether it be in the form of reaction and recollection or in the rapid hand-off of neurological occupation through the redirection of attention, we build our lives from the things we focus on, notice, remember and forget. In making Vas, I have attempted to rigorously solidify thoughts and occurrences through stitch. Cotton base fabric, purchased from a favourite store, is rubbed with earth and rust and rinsed with rain, a vessel of place, nature and memory. The symbols and phrases subsequently stitched into the fabric reflect recent thoughts, observations and occurrences.
From a list of my favourite aircraft at an air show to a commentary on the lunar eclipse, a list poem on a short trip and hospital waiting-room observations, I have devoted deliberate attention to recording events in a slow and labour-intensive process, with faith that it will help preserve these observations for the future.
