What You Could Be, 2022
Crocheted and melted nylon
45cmW x 85cmH
The title of this work was inspired by the novel ‘All The Light We Cannot See’ by Anthony Doerr, which suggests that we are haunted by the potential of what is lost.
Lace personally speaks to me as a symbol of a mother’s love. Vulnerable, beautiful and pristine, lace doilies are the mark of a mother’s presence in the house, though often placed in less than honourable places. In a way, we take these handmade lace pieces for granted, much like we do to our mothers, as if they will always be waiting for us in our family home whenever we return.
The deliberate destruction of a fragile and defenceless object created stitch by stitch by hand seems almost sacrilegious; yet it is reflective of the relationship many daughters, and personally myself, share with our mothers.
The ability of crochet to forgive— unravelling without leaving any traces— contributes to the heartbreak of it being destroyed. Akin to that loss we feel when a loved one leaves the physical realm, that sudden disappearance of a presence we have grown used to makes us clutch at the evidence of them having ever been around.