Buried With
Drawing on the historical practice of burying our dead with grave goods, allowing them to continue their societal role from beyond the grave, I have drawn together the imagined grave goods of my family members who have passed, the tools of their trades, and the ways in which I remember them. For me, the act of creating draws on all the knowledge my family left me with and in continuing my craft I am keeping them close, not always consciously, but they live in my stitches. The patchworked central blocks of this quilt are accompanied by a poem, written whilst holding the memories of my family close, both of their life and death. This poem has been hand embroidered around the edge of the piece, encompassing the work.
Before committing to the project I wanted to ensure I could execute the embroidered text element.
Cyanotype coated fabric before exposure.
I used our A4 exposure units to create the photograms using objects matching those in the written piece.
Final photogram collection
Assembled quilt top
All the text was hand written onto the fabric in heat erasable pen before embroidering.
I created a darker, more even spool of cyanotype thread to work the embroidery in. This should make it more legible even in the fainter parts of the variegation.
All text is hand embroidered using a stem stitch.