Tanita House
Statement:
“I was too tall to dance”
10 Viceroy Close,
Colchester,
Essex,
CO2 8BQ
This was the address of my dance school in Essex, I attended it every week from the age of four to sixteen and it was my source of inspiration for this body of work. The First piece ‘Viceroy Close’ shows the potential to become a ballerina. The second ‘Shrub End Road’ to the ninth ‘Valley View Close’ represent growth and prospering. Whilst the first shoe is a metaphor for being a ballerina, the last shoe is the collapse of a dream; the result of my natural growth where I had exceeded the height limitations required to be a ballet dancer.
As I could not go further with ballet – it came to an end.
Ten pieces made out of a variety of printed maps sourced from Colchester, Essex and woven together. I have used the maps to direct me through the years, through displacement and an attempt to define personal territory and identity, to re-established who I am now and how I have transformed since my early dreams, into a textile maker.
These ten textile pieces cannot be worn. However they relate to the body through this childhood memory. A series of digital images are in shown with the ten pieces, to help visualise and express this period of time.
