I've written about the process so far; this is the finished piece. I think. I have been very selective about adding stitch, placing it only in the 'dark' areas of the piece, and to delineate the eyes, which I thought were the most important part of the piece, and the scar running down the side of the face, which is quilted using zigzag stitches; shades of Frankenstein's monster?
I found it remarkably difficult to stitch into my own face...until I started, and then it became just another piece of quilting, to be considered from the point of view of technique, structure and meaning. Emotionally, though, it was very difficult. I've made a lot of work about depression, but never directly used an image of myself to express feelings. It's as if I've been hiding behind abstraction, but am now coming out into the light, and letting everyone see how much darkness I carry around with me, regardless of how 'light' I appear. I'm crying as I write this, so it must be true... a therapy joke; I always weep when something is painfully true.
It will be interesting to see everyone else's posts, and the varied ways we have approached the challenge.
4 comments:
This is a really powerful piece Marion - as a long-term bipolar person (though in my case it has luckily lessened with age) it struck a shuddermaking cord (if you can have such a thing - oh heck you know what I mean!)
Phew Marion! The face is like a dart piercing m'insides. Like the eye especially.
The strength of feeling is really communicated by your quilt in a very thoughtfully wrought way. I'm glad it has helped you emerge from the shadows to bathe in the light xxx
This is a very moving piece, it's so emotive AND so interesting. I don't know if I could stitch over my face, maybe during one of these challenges, I'll try!
Have you hung this up? Do you look at it all the time, do you still see yourself in it? I have looked at it several times now and it has a changed a little bit for me each time. It's wonderful.
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