STITCHED STORIES
[ 2012 – 2013 ]
Stitched Stories is a portfolio consisting of visual poems that evoke such universal emotions as loneliness, loss and aging. For the past two years I have created composited self-portraits that are combined with embroidered text, adding a three-dimensional element to the page. The text is gleaned from poems that have resonated with me and speak to issues that I am exploring.
In these portraits I use my body as the “canvas” or “paper.” Although I am a woman, I have always eschewed what I call women’s crafts. There is something, though, about slowly and meticulously sewing these words onto the photograph that really personalizes and enlivens these pieces for me. I do not see the act of puncturing the image in any way as violent, but instead, I consider the embroidering a way to connect with the photograph and in a sense, with myself.
