Some Things Held Together
2024
silk, handmade dye (kelp and rust), bamboo leaves, chicken wire, glue
Some Things Held Together was prompted by observations of debris accumulating in gutters during heavy storms. It examines how we try to control the movement of water in urban spaces, how the water frustrates these attempts when it overwhelms the drainage systems and pools into the streets, and how we must then negotiate new ways of moving through the city. In moments when our everyday structures falter, we seek informal ways to sustain ourselves and our communities, engaging in alternative modes of work and asking the materials around us to labour in new ways.
The materials in this sculpture include foods from the artist’s home, objects found in transitional spaces in their neighbourhood, and otherwise unneeded items that accumulate in their places of work and their studio. The silk fabric was shibori dyed in an “arashi” pattern resembling the diagonal lines of raindrops in a storm.