So starting from this image, I really engaged with this assignment. I was struggling with conflicting motivations. The easiest thing to do would be to make some social commentary that undermined the concept of home as an ideal. But I think positive standards around something like home are important. So I had to navigate in my own mind what I would want to set up as a new, more realistic ideal. Going back to beautiful, broken things, here is the windy path I took in my sketchbook.
Research
Process
Final Piece and Statement
home
The concept communicated by conventional “Home Sweet Home” hoop embroidery includes a cherished and safe environment. Happiness, peace and security are ideals portrayed by cute or elaborate patterns. For this piece, I choose to overturn these ideals by violently attacking a traditional pattern and juxtaposing it with an alternate depiction. Simplicity replaces elaborate craftsmanship. Process overthrows security. Imperfection’s wild energy counterbalances that of the organized stitching. The ideal of “home” is rejected, but its remains influence how viewers perceive the new image.
‘home’ may be imperfect, damaged and vulnerable, but framing it demonstrates that it is still worthwhile. There is desperation in the stark, tangled stitching, but there is hope in the a small repair, and commitment in the threaded needle. Home’s sweetness may actually be discovered through the process of creating it.