Common Enemies

2002 Cotton and woollen yarn, flyswats 
100 × 800 mm 
Private collection.

Common Enemies
- Mosquito 

2003 Yarn, bamboo sieve 
500 × 1250 × 50 mm

Common Enemies
- Water 

2003 Yarn, bamboo sieve 
500 × 1250 × 50 mm

The “Common Enemies” Series (2002 – 2006) began with a moth. This is an “enemy” to those of us who work with wool but also, I discovered, to those of us who work with computers. In 1945 Grace Murray Hopper, who was working on the relay-based Harvard Mark II computer, found the first computer bug, a moth, jamming the relays of her computer.   It was taped in the log-book alongside the official report, “First actual case of bug being found”. When I was on residency in Bangladesh I found other “enemies”. I lived in morbid fear of infected water and malarial mosquitoes. I worked these two pieces onto bamboo sieves that I bought in a local street market.

2002
machine knitted wool

1800 × 580 mm
installed at firstsite at the Minories Art Gallery, Colchester

Photography: Douglas Atfield

2002
machine knitted wool

2100 × 1900 mm

Photography: Douglas Atfield

2001
machine knitted wool

600 × 600 mm
Private Collection

This piece is a natural progression for me. For the past couple of years I have been working on a series of distorted body pieces.   These knitted “jumpers” have a sleeve instead of a neck, a spare torso projecting from the stomach, four shoulders with four sleeves and sealed cuffs for missing hands. The series culminates in two full bodies joined at the head. A piece which two people can enter but which otherwise lies or hangs like an empty skin.   My research has been around the human body, medicine, disability and disfigurement, the freak show, taxidermy, mummies, religious iconography and other “curiosities”. I find the medium of knitted textiles a powerful tool for expression and communication because of the cultural preconceptions surrounding the area. It is a “friendly” medium, which can be used to engage your audience with a subject, which might otherwise cause them to turn away.

In “Billy Wool” I tackle the head with features. A piece, which presents more technical challenges than any of my previous work. The whole piece is knitted on a domestic knitting machine with many of the stitches being moved around and worked by hand. The final piece is more of a skin than a balaclava. When it came off the machine and lay on the ironing board it resembled a mummified body. In particular Lindow Man, who has become known as “Pete Marsh”, hence its’ title, “Billy Wool”.

(Written statement for Ikons of Identity, a Craftspace touring exhibition 2001 – 2002)

2001
machine and hand knitted wool, cotton and elastic, pompoms, buttons, glass heads
installed at firstsite at the Minories Art Gallery, Colchester

This series of work was inspired by the 17th century “scold’s bridle” which was used to punish scolds or gossips. These were, of course, primarily women as are the majority of knitters. I became interested in the idea of producing your own form of torture or punishment. Sitting down and doing something passive, creative and “useful”, such as knitting, only to have it used to punish or torture you. These cute, friendly, fluffy pieces beguile their actual use. Having the pompom in your mouth is a revolting experience, which would soon choke you. In “Wise Monkeys” the idea is taken further to also prevent you from using some of your other senses. You hearing is muffled by the pompoms. You eyes are blinded, being replaced by the traditional knitted toy’s eyes, the button.

The large bridle piece is based on an actual “scold’s bridle” in the Royal Armouries in The Tower of London. This piece contrasts pleasure with pain. The bridle is “plated” (lined) with cashmere yarn and, where as the original bridle had a serrated iron tongue for insertion into the mouth, this has a cashmere and mohair pompom. This piece also has pompoms to muffle your hearing and fastens around the face by the use of buttons instead of an iron padlock. The title “Wise Monkeys” comes from those Three Wise Monkeys who could “Hear no evil”, “See no evil” and “Speak no evil”.

(Written statement for Ikons of Identity, 
a Craftspace touring exhibition, 2001 – 2002)