Material Construction

Second project for Material Construction: "Stuffed or There is no There There (How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in my Life)"

I created a wall-sized patchwork of knitted squares from thread that I dyed the colors most prominent in my memories. All of my memories are in third person so I wanted to create a viewer's experience of my nostalgia similar to the way in which I experience it. It was actually therapeutic to watch my classmates interact with the piece, and that became an equally important element. Some of the knitted squares are pockets that contain scents such as lavender, cedar, sunscreen, mint flouride, etc. These are scents that are both universal and specific to my memories, so they are easily accessible and recognizable as dealing with nostalgia. As the viewer walks across the piece they can detect different scents, imagining their own narrative from the fragmented experiences. I allowed the patchwork to become amorphic and asymmetrical so it's not just seen as a quilt and instead took on its own physical form and presence.