The Sacrifice Of Gaza Tapestry

The Sacrifice Of Gaza Tapestry, 2020, hand-stitched cotton thread on dishtowel, 15.5'' x 25''

                                             

The Sacrifice Of Gaza Tapestry is stitched in its entirety in my mosaic style, and each medium-sized square shape has an average of twelve stitches. My three-dimensional mosaic piece The Sacrifice of Gaza (2009), is the direct progenitor of this tapestry. With an obvious reference to War Rugs, the background portrays fighter jets, bombs, surveillance cameras, guns, bullets, and flash grenades. The 'Sacrifice' of the title refers to a world that has turned its back on Gaza, and specifically to Western complicity. In that way, the bombs and the other machines of war represent me, dropped in my name while the mainstream media, by its omission, tells me it doesn’t matter. The world’s power system remains silent and complicit while Israel bombs Gaza anytime it feels like it, including in the summer of 2020, with constant bombardment during a world pandemic. I think of 2014 when the explosive power that Israel fired on Gaza by land, sea, and air far surpassed one of the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Japan in August 1945. Over 550 children were killed during that summer of massacre. 

And there's the Great March of Return, which began on March 30, 2018. The demands were simple: An end to the now 12-year siege on Gaza, and the ability for refugees, which make up more than 70% of Gaza’s population, to be allowed to return to their homes. Over the course of one year, scores of Gazans, mostly young men, were shot and killed, or severely injured, by Israeli snipers stationed along Gaza’s eastern border with Israel. On just one day, May 14, 2018, more than 1,300 protesters were shot by the Israeli army. Sixty people were killed. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza has placed the death toll as of March 29, 2019 at 266, including 50 children, three medics, and two journalists. Doctors Without Borders called it “unacceptable and inhuman” violence by the Israeli army against Palestinian protesters. This is what United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Link wrote about Gaza: “There is no comparable situation in the world...where a substantial population has endured such a permanent lockdown, largely unable to travel or trade, and controlled by an occupying power in breach of its solemn international human rights and humanitarian obligations.”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/06/04/sacrificing-gaza-the-great-march-of-zionist-hypocrisy/

 

Resident Map of Seattle

Resident Map of Seattle, hand-stitched cotton thread, linen, 16"x23"

“We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are.”  Anais Nin 

I took the idea of a tourist map and created my own subjective map of Seattle, using images that resonate for me on multiple levels. I reoriented its direction so that East is on the top and framed it on the left side with a construction crane and on the right side with crows in a winter tree.

There are at least 25 stitched symbols within the Resident Map which include:

Herschel the sea lion in Shilshole Bay

Red-eared Slider turtle at Golden Gardens

Ballard Railroad Drawbridge, Ballard Locks

Ballard neighborhood: my house, Ballard Library, playground, Corners Park

Lenin statue, Fremont

Gasworks Park

Greenlake Park

Magnuson Park, Soundgarden

University of Washington canoe rental

Black Sun sculpture, Noguchi, Volunteer Park (space needle inside)

Elephant Car Wash

Louise Bourgeois Eye Bench at Seattle Sculpture garden

guinea pig, Seattle Animal Shelter

Washington State Ferry

Giant Pacific Octopus

Smith Tower

Beacon Hill Veterans Hospital

Mt. Ranier

Boeing Field

Hat & Boots, Georgetown

Duwamish traditional lands, Longhouse

Alki, Statue of Liberty

Harbor Island, shipping containers

Amtrak Cascades

ArtXchange Gallery

Mela Insana

"Mela Insana" 2016

A mosaic is a conversation between what is broken. — Terry Tempest Williams

With the exception of the tornado and a few line work details, I created this piece in its entirety by stitching small squares, and variations of the square, to evoke mosaic tile art. I consider "Mela Insana" to be a natural evolution of my some of my earlier thread pieces that utilize the square as a design element as well as my glass tile mosaic sculptures. 

I originally titled this piece "Aubergine" in reference to the dark color of the tornado and in the figure's dress, but because this piece is based on Raphael's painting "Elisabetta Gonzaga", 1504-06, I thought the Italian word for eggplant would be more appropriate. I discovered the name "Mela Insana", ("bad apple") which was folk-etymologized* from the Italian melanzana. I liked this play on the word and how it relates to the visual metaphor of the tornado. As an aside, Raphael also designed mosaics, most notably his ‘Creation of the World' in the dome of the Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, executed around 1516.

The landscape on the left side represents the past and its relatively untouched natural world. The right side represents an unknown future, with a tornado that symbolizes constricted energy containing the potential for both great destruction and expansive awareness. 

* http://languagehat.com/the-multifarious-aubergine/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creation_of_the_World_(Raphael)

Under Siege

"Under Siege" 2014

I titled this piece "Under Siege" because with the exception of one subspecies of African white rhinoceros, all five rhinoceros species in the world are in danger of being hunted by poachers for their horns, and three of the species are listed as critically endangered. In keeping with the theme of the title I overlaid the image of the rhino with a design I took from Palestinian embroidery. The background is a modified Islamic geometric pattern with rhino horns for the border. 

This is the first piece I've stitched on fabric rather than paper. To get the design on the fabric I used a transfer pencil to trace from a xerox collage. It was then ironed (in reverse) onto the fabric, with the border added later. Because the process is new for me, with such a complicated design and relatively large size -13"x17"- it was a challenge, and it took me a lot longer to make than I was expecting!

Below are the images I referenced including the xerox collage. The Palestinian embroidery design is from the book "Embroidery from Palestine" by Shelagh Weir.

Animals From The Past

I was looking at Chinese Tang Dynasty horses. This piece was conceived when the US was having "debates" about whether to invade Iraq. I put quotes around debate because the whole thing was so obviously manipulated--the "weapons of mass destruction" or any 911 connection.

The "bomb-blossom" on the horse represented the moment before the deadly decision was made: how the bomb could instead be a blossom of awareness, could of turned into something else.

It's weight is carried by an animal that represents beauty and intuition.

Camel Pull-Toy

See previous posts "Pull-Toys" and "Mosaic with Fabric"

 "Topsy 1903"

Topsy 1903

I unexpectedly saw the footage, by Thomas Edison, of his execution of the elephant Topsy in 1903. It was such a profoundly disturbing and evil act, and I made this piece in homage to Topsy. 

Thomas Edison was attempting to prove the dangers of AC current, and after the elephant had killed three trainers- including one who tried to feed her a lit cigarette- Edison was happy to electrocute her to help prove his point.

I subsequently learned that he also electrocuted dogs and cats as well as cows and horses. How many school children are taught this? We learn about the great inventor and his genius, another hero of American ingenuity. We are told to be proud. 

Suppressing the 'dark side' of Edison is an example of how National Identity itself is mythologized, conveniently omitting what is destructive and abusive. Then it becomes possible to project that dark side onto "the other".

Topsy 1903

Pull-Toys

Giraffe Pull-Toy

Pink Dog Pull Toy

These two pieces are in the "pull-toy" style, with wheels on the base, which are decorative rather than functional. My first one was called "Camel Pull-Toy", and I made it in response to U.S. imperialism - the idea that America can drag other cultures- in that case Iraq and Afghanistan- around like toys. These pieces don't have political content, but visually I like the bases. These bases were constructed by Robert Rowland using found materials. They are also examples of using paper (Giraffe) and hand-stitched thread on paper (Pink Dog) instead of fabric. Thread on paper is now my main medium, in two dimensions.