My children have heard the tales, but my mates encouraged me to write it all down mainly for my own offspring. My father was an avid amateur photographer ( Kodak Brownie) and I have inherited all his carefully labelled and documented photos. I have been able to illustrate my life too, thanks to his photos. One of my buddies asked about how this has influenced my work in textiles, and of course it has. It is often difficult to quantify or say exactly how or where. That is often easier for others to do.
A while back I did do a piece of abstract work to try and express my feelings. I called it "Lebensgeist" . This title seemed to express better than any English title what I was trying to express. The sub title is ; - "Inspired by a Singapore Childhood. Memories of the vibrant colours, sun, jungle, sea, all under the haze of the heat and humidity. (Not forgetting the monsoons)"
So this is a response to life in Colonial Singapore - the three and a half years that we spent on the island, at an early and very influential part of my young life, and is a very special and fond memory that I have. The whole piece is hand stitched . Do you have any special textiles that make you remember your childhood? That you, either have made yourself, or have coveted and saved.
2 comments:
Hi Maggie--Just returning the visit. I especially enjoyed seeing photos of your dyeing process. I have dabbled in dyeing a bit myself but never seem to have enough room, or perhaps I just spread everything out too much. Having seen your lovely dyed things may inspire me to give it another go.
I like this piece, maggie.
My childhood was in Africa - perhaps I might have a go at something similar although I havent got any fabric pieces left from then, it was so long ago!
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