time marches on, regardless
2020
wool, wood, ivy, rose stems, dirt
time marches on, regardless is a durational piece using a hand woven tapestry with rose stems and living ivy, made following a research of cultural wounding, reconciliation and anti-monumentalist theory. the work is a tapestry encased in a wooden frame, evocative of the colonial monument. the concept of ‘cultural wounding’ is engaged using woven english rose stems in the tapestry, symbolic of the embedded history of colonial harm. the stems cannot be removed without destroying the textile, nor can they be touched without the barb of a thorn piercing your skin. the bottom of the tapestry has a live english ivy woven into the fibre. the use of the english rose, and ivy are not coincidental, but symbolic of the harmful and engulfing nature of colonialism. the english ivy mimics the acts of the colonists by strangling other plants of their nutrients and taking their native territory by force. however, the gesture of care involved with gardening, and tending to a living organism to encourage growth, can be recognised as an act of reconciliation in its own way - the duality of these two considerations create a complex depth and further the meaning of the hybrid object. the use of organic textile in this work also contrasts with the use of materials traditionally used within the colonial monument – things like stone and bronze, which are used for their capability to withstand time and weathering – as a natural fibre which can decompose and wont impact the environment while it does.
