Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
University of Wales Trinity Saint David (joint submission with Cardiff Metropolitan University and University of South Wales)
Series: Image as Structure (‘To and Fro’, ‘Flow’, ‘’Folds’, ‘The Window’) 2010 - 2013
Image as Structure is a series of hand-woven and digital jacquard woven structures, made using traditional ikat techniques in combination with digital heat-transfer printing. Photographic images are conventionally regarded as surfaces that correspond to their subject matter. The project worked against this understanding by using ikat and digital printing to construct photographs, focusing on the impact that material and process can have on representation and meaning. Ikat is a dyeing technique for patterning textiles that uses bindings to dye patterns into threads before the weaving of the fabric takes place. A specially-developed process was used to heat-transfer a photograph onto yarns, after which they were unraveled and hand-woven. The semi-transparent weft yarns allowed the image to be recognizable, yet the image was misaligned due to shifts in the relative position of the yarns introduced by the hand-weaving process. Against the conventions of weaving, the structures were exhibited in such a way as to give equal importance to both sides of the fabric. Being able to see both sides of the image, and having the double aspect of an image that is recognizable yet misaligned, has the effect of highlighting the construction of representation, and enabling material to be seen in its own terms while simultaneously cohering to form a picture.
The work has toured nationally and internationally, appearing in: the Warp and Weft UK touring exhibition, 2010-11; the Kaunas International Textile Biennial, Lithuania, 2011; the Crafts Council Collect exhibition, Saatchi Gallery, 2012; the 7th International Fiber Art Biennale, China, 2012; and the 8th International Cheongju Craft Biennial, South Korea, 2013. The work is included in the Warp and Weft, Collect and Kaunas Biennial catalogues. Funding came from an Arts Council of Wales Individual Project Grant, an Arts Council of Wales Training Grant, and a Wales Arts International Award.
