HelenC

With reviews over and essays handed in, its time to get blogging. My project has moved on again and as I said last time I've been looking at the single stitch. I was fascinated by the way stitches are connected and how each one depends on the next to form a piece of knitting, drop one and a hole appears, travelling right through the piece. This lead me to to think about my connections and the stitches that link to form my pattern. At this stage I was looking at the aran stitches and how when adapted they were linked to the identities of certain families. So how was I going show my pattern in a visual way. I decided that because we all wear our identity constantly and because its invisible that I would knit a garment showing mine. After careful consideration, I chose to knit this garment with official documentation relating to me. The choice of material was very important. It tells me who I am and where I've come from. It also plots a pathway through my life. The stitches at the back of the jacket symbolise parents,siblings, marriage and birth, and the dropped stitches represent death and loss. The front panels relate to my marriage, children, education and health, all elements that form my identity.

Keeping movement and motion in mind this garment shows how my identity has moved and changed over the years but also how it continues to evolve.

Contextually, I've been looking at the work of Dave Cole, who produced a series of work called Trophy Wives and the Money Dress in 2006. The dress, based on a Vera Wang design was knit with dollar bills.

Susie Mc Muarry is another artist who has produced a garment sculpture 'Widow' made out of unusual materials, leather and 94 pounds of dressmakers pins. 'The prickly garment translates grief of lost love into a shorud that inflicts physical pain and repels human contact and sympathy. Widow is the fourth in a series of garment sculptures that explore the concepts of female identity'. It can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Power of Making.