Unit X: Easter Research Round-Up

Over Easter I’ve been fascinated by the idea of ‘Evil Reflected’. This came about from my initial research into voodoo and the talismans, or ‘Gris-Gris’, associated with it. From the book, Voodoo- Mounted by the Gods I came across a particular fetish that took the form of a small doll but had shards of metal and glass protruding from its wooden body. The caption for this image read:

‘This gris-gris is made to both defend the owner and injure others who wish him harm. Inside the fetish are hair and nails from the owner. The body is covered with metal shards and bits of mirror. These two materials are responsible for sensing danger and turning it back. If the owner is cursed, the bad thoughts will be reflected back to the sender and destroy him.’

This struck me as a very powerful and uncomfortable thought that one would wish not only to protect themselves with such charms but would actively hope to cause the death of anyone that may wish them harm. It strikes me as quite a contradictory outlook on the nature of evil as one could argue that by reflecting any bad thoughts, one becomes part of that evil deed.

Anyhow, from looking at the gris-gris I was interested in taking this very abstract notion and translating it through a textile medium. To do this, I have used the process of tucking and pleating in order to create a raised surface onto flat fabric. I’m interested in creating pattern but more importantly a 3d structure out of a flat surface.  I also experimented with sheer fabric to see how the transparency might affect the structure. By utilising the transparency of my medium, I am interested in evoking a sense of fragility. However, at this stage I have only scratched the surface in terms of using fabric manipulation in my work.  To develop this further I hope to recreate my fabric samples in large scale to see how far I can push the structural capabilities of fabric.