In Memoriam

shortlisted for Changing Threads, New Zealand Contemporary Fibre Art Awards, 2022
I stitched this never-ending circle of life, full of loops and turns, in direct response to having just discovered that my great grandmother had spent the last 26 years of her life as a patient of Seacliff Mental Hospital.  With no family photos, no mementos, no gravestone, “In Memoriam” is my attempt to piece together the facts of her life. As I stitched I wondered what her life must have been like and the circumstances which lead to her committal; widowhood, losing a son in World War 1, and a large family including a toddler to care for. I reflected on how the treatment and stigma of mental illness has changed over the years, but that it is still often hidden.

Windblown

shortlisted for the Parkin Drawing Prize, 2019
This stitch-sketch was created during and after an artist residency to Farewell Spit. In a place of such vastness, where the forces of wind, tide and time made me feel inconsequential, I sought calmness and purpose. I was drawn to capture an ephemeral moment in time; wind-blown lines in the sand. Stitch allowed for slow mark-marking and reflection.

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"Blanketed" series

Needle felted wool on woolen blankets.