Brunswick Street Gallery Melbourne

Textiles play and important role in defining our everyday experience.

Textile derived words about fabric; thread and stitching have evolved into our everyday language. Our language is full of words and phrases that started life as part of the vocabulary of a particular textile trade or craft. Freed from these references we attach ideas and feelings to these words; they have a particular look or feel with the meaning and power we give them.

There is an emotional bond associated with these words that where once about process and making, which follows us through life, from birth to death. They describe various aspects of human experience, the emotions, the everyday experiences that we all share as human beings, the common humanity just below the surface, linking us the world over despite our differences. There are strong parallels between the fragility of cloth and the ultimate fragility of our lives and how we devise ways to repair damage to ourselves both physical and emotional, just as we devise ways to mend our clothes restoring items to their former beauty.

The language of stitch is rich and varied as it draws from numerous cultures and many centuries of tradition, interweaving our lives and experiences.