In my recent foray back into sewing I am drawn repeatedly to the wrong side of the fabric and it prompts me to look under other surfaces to the underside, inside, the hidden untidiness of human and unhuman life. How might printing, stitching and weaving enable a physical investigation of the wrong side, allowing any of its potential meanings and implications to jostle together within the wider ecology? Does a tree have a right and wrong side? What does bark, skin, or coverings or fur or hair look like from the inside. What happens when a surface is turned inside out?
During lockdown I felt the need for more tangible outcomes. Alongside walking as an ecological and participatory practice, I have been connecting back to material making, particularly in relation to textiles. It feels like a transition phase where I am discovering ways to fuse these approaches to enhance both. I am excited by the possibilities of textiles in relation to walking. How material might be made from the walk and taken for a walk. How the ‘wrong’ side might be on the outside.
Open plan walk…house, screen and sewing machine.
