ODD GIRLS
As children we would sit in a circle and start the whisper game.
Each child would whisper what they heard to the next child, by the time it reached the end of the circle the whisper had changed beyond recognition. These stitched works are the visual equivalent.
The image of each girl transitions through various processes, to become another translation of a portrait. The pathway goes from living person, to a photographic fragment a record of their existence, to a scanned file, to a computer screen, to a blind contour drawing in vanishing ink, to a stitched drawing.
In ways related to surrealist strategies, I reach for the essence of the subject or idea through deep observation, releasing control and allowing the unexpected to unfold.
All the elements of the whisper game exist in these pieces - transformation, surprise, amusement, and wonder. An entirely new image appears in the form of stitched drawings.
Each evolves like a whisper across time….