Memorial Handkerchiefs, embroidered from 2002 - 2009
Thank you to the hand labour of all the embroiderers.
Artist's explanation:
The following is not the technique of a needleworker, as I have always approached the memorial as a sculptor.
The names were originally printed on handkerchiefs in 2001. They were printed using a set of stencilled oil boards (4 names per card). Black paint was used, with some bronze / gold paint throughout, to 'ease the eye'.
In 2004, after beginning my doctorate research in text annd textiles needlework, I decided to embroider the names white-on-white because of my research on remembering and re-recording (memory and erasure). My aunt kindly agreed to start the stitching.
Then, in 2004, an elderly friend came forward. Her name was Edith Morriot (see photo) and as she was moved to tears upon hearing about the project, she volunteered to do some sewing and also she tatted 3 hankies and wove in a lock of her red hair on handkerchief number 1.
Eventually there were 50 women and 1 man from around the world who embroidered all the names, over five years. One name took approximately 1 hour to embroider in chain stitch.
In late 2004, after further research on contemporary textile and installation artists (Doris Salcedo, Colombia, and Anne Wilson, Chicago USA), I decided to 'mark' some of the hankies with a spot of hair. The latter references Victorian mourning jewellery and the idea of 'memento mori'; also, something crafted with a loved one's hair has also always been considered 'a love token'. Any spot on pure white linen, could also represent violence ( the profane) or marking something sacred (the skin / the body / white eccesiastical linen)? Perhaps 'beauty' spots on the linen are akin to the 'iconic' freckles on the fair skin of someone considered to be 'typically Irish or Irish - British'?
