Body cocoon 2, 4.5 - 9.6.20
Body cocoon 2 is the second in a series of Body cocoons knitted during the COVID -19 pandemic. It took 33 days to knit, from 4.5.-9.6.20. Look here for more about Body cocoon 1 and my reflections on that.
9.8.20 Body cocoon 2, (the line where shore and water meet)
2.7.20
I finished knitting Body cocoon 1 on 27th April and started this one on 4th May. I find it hard not to knit! Knitting fulfills various important functions for me and making art is just one of them. As I've mentioned elsewhere, echoing crochet artist Olek, for me, ‘life…and art are inseparable’ (in Vannier, 2018, p91) and like artist Orly Genger, who constructs large scale hand knotted installations, I feel that ‘if I could put my body into my work that would be the ultimate’ (in Kino, 2013). As part of the feedback from my last module at the end of May my tutors asked what would happen if I didn't knit. I will reflect further on that in due course, but in the meantime, I will keep knitting! It definitely challenges me though. The only time that I haven't knitted whenever and wherever I am in the past 10 years was in 2017 when I had RSI in my wrists (probably from 'too much knitting') I didn't knit for a month while I was doing a month-long residency, which meant I came up with a series which I called Displacement activities instead. Interesting....
2.7.20
I finished knitting Body cocoon 1 on 27th April and started this one on 4th May. I find it hard not to knit! Knitting fulfills various important functions for me and making art is just one of them. As I've mentioned elsewhere, echoing crochet artist Olek, for me, ‘life…and art are inseparable’ (in Vannier, 2018, p91) and like artist Orly Genger, who constructs large scale hand knotted installations, I feel that ‘if I could put my body into my work that would be the ultimate’ (in Kino, 2013). As part of the feedback from my last module at the end of May my tutors asked what would happen if I didn't knit. I will reflect further on that in due course, but in the meantime, I will keep knitting! It definitely challenges me though. The only time that I haven't knitted whenever and wherever I am in the past 10 years was in 2017 when I had RSI in my wrists (probably from 'too much knitting') I didn't knit for a month while I was doing a month-long residency, which meant I came up with a series which I called Displacement activities instead. Interesting....
Body cocoon 2, (if you go down to the woods today) 3.7.20
For my reflections on this series in the woods, see 3.7.20 Knitting in unexpected places?
Body cocoon 2 as a Living sculpture
Worn, Body cocoon 2 comes alive. It's a living sculpture. I've written more about it here 30.6.20 Living sculptures, performance or participation?and 30.6.20 Body cocoons: private or public?
I made this stop motion animation using an app, Stop Motion Studio, on my phone. It's rather basic but I'm quite pleased with it. It gives an impression as to what would be possible. A video might be more effective, but I don't have the expertise or the software at home to take or edit videos. I would need support with this. This is possibly something I could do when we're back at Uni later in the summer.
The photos were kindly taken by my partner, Dave, against the back drop of my makeshift photo studio. I've had to crop them all so the animation is quite jerky. I could possibly redo this shoot when I have access to the photo studio and facilities at Uni again. They were taken on 3.6.20, and then I carried on knitting the sculpture until the final piece reached my ankles, on 9.6.20. I then cast off. However, looking at these images and the video, I like the fact that my ankles and feet (and hairy slippers!) are visible, and I think the swinging circular needles and attached ball of yarn add interest. Maybe I'll unravel it a little and reattach the needles and yarn? Black knitting is also very hard to photograph! In many of the images, it either looks like a silhouette, or the camera changes it to grey. Interesting ideas about perception of blackness and lightening, in relation to the current Black Lives Matter protests.
I think I cast it off as a reaction to the hairy threads of Body cocoon 1. They make it very hard to wear and I wanted this to be easier for any potential future wearers! I'll need to think about this further.
I made this stop motion animation using an app, Stop Motion Studio, on my phone. It's rather basic but I'm quite pleased with it. It gives an impression as to what would be possible. A video might be more effective, but I don't have the expertise or the software at home to take or edit videos. I would need support with this. This is possibly something I could do when we're back at Uni later in the summer.
The photos were kindly taken by my partner, Dave, against the back drop of my makeshift photo studio. I've had to crop them all so the animation is quite jerky. I could possibly redo this shoot when I have access to the photo studio and facilities at Uni again. They were taken on 3.6.20, and then I carried on knitting the sculpture until the final piece reached my ankles, on 9.6.20. I then cast off. However, looking at these images and the video, I like the fact that my ankles and feet (and hairy slippers!) are visible, and I think the swinging circular needles and attached ball of yarn add interest. Maybe I'll unravel it a little and reattach the needles and yarn? Black knitting is also very hard to photograph! In many of the images, it either looks like a silhouette, or the camera changes it to grey. Interesting ideas about perception of blackness and lightening, in relation to the current Black Lives Matter protests.
I think I cast it off as a reaction to the hairy threads of Body cocoon 1. They make it very hard to wear and I wanted this to be easier for any potential future wearers! I'll need to think about this further.
Here are a few photos of Body cocoon 2, worn by me, including a couple of close ups. The sculpture is knitted in black wool but here it looks grey. At least the surface is visible!
And here is the sequence of stills that I used to make the stop motion animation at the top of this page:
Body cocoon 2, hanging
For my undergraduate dissertation I researched the ways that Louise Bourgeois and Christain Boltanksi used second hand clothing in their work. One of the aspects I researched was how the method of installation can add meaning. Hanging, for example, can amplify certain meanings. I wrote: 'Empty, used clothing inevitably has strong connotations with absence and death.' (Baker, 2014, p 12) I also wrote:
'Hanging the garments also emphasises the sculpture’s ‘fragility and vulnerability’ (Larratt-Smith 2011). Bourgeois asserts that the hanging thing ‘…is very helpless’ (in Nixon 2005:170) and ‘Hanging and floating are states of ambivalence and doubt’ (in Larratt- Smith 2011). It is clearly significant to her. I think the hanging motif distinguishes ‘very different identities for (her) sculpture…suggesting a kind of displacement’ (Barlow 1996: 9) which also adds to the feeling of abjection' (ibid., p 15).
See 2.7.20 The significance of hanging for more on this.
'Hanging the garments also emphasises the sculpture’s ‘fragility and vulnerability’ (Larratt-Smith 2011). Bourgeois asserts that the hanging thing ‘…is very helpless’ (in Nixon 2005:170) and ‘Hanging and floating are states of ambivalence and doubt’ (in Larratt- Smith 2011). It is clearly significant to her. I think the hanging motif distinguishes ‘very different identities for (her) sculpture…suggesting a kind of displacement’ (Barlow 1996: 9) which also adds to the feeling of abjection' (ibid., p 15).
See 2.7.20 The significance of hanging for more on this.
Here are some images of Body cocoon 2, hanging from a meat hook:
Images 1.& 2: Details of the bottom of the hanging sculpture. Gravity plays its part, so that the knitted cloth slumps. I think it was Dexter who referred to this as my 'floppy vibe'! This is intentional, as to me the empty hanging knitted sculpture has associations with absence and the abject. It is maybe a matter of taste as well. The safety pin markers are also visible, where I tracked my progress.
Image 3: Detail of the top of the sculpture, showing how the top of the sculpture is tensioned by its own weight. The meat hook pierces the knitting.
Images 4. & 5: In image 4 the sculpture is free hanging, whereas in Image 5 its just touching the ground. If the sculpture were hung less visibly, maybe with monofilament or yarn, it could give the illusion that it was freestanding, which might be quite interesting.
Images 6-8: Details of the sculpture touching the ground
Image 3: Detail of the top of the sculpture, showing how the top of the sculpture is tensioned by its own weight. The meat hook pierces the knitting.
Images 4. & 5: In image 4 the sculpture is free hanging, whereas in Image 5 its just touching the ground. If the sculpture were hung less visibly, maybe with monofilament or yarn, it could give the illusion that it was freestanding, which might be quite interesting.
Images 6-8: Details of the sculpture touching the ground
Body cocoon 2, tracking my knitting process
I decided to track how many centimetres I knitted with each skein, initially to see whether I needed to order more yarn, but then because it was interesting! For my reflections on tracking my knitting process, see 19.6.20 Body cocoon 2, tracking progress, one skein at a time. Here is an image of Body cocoon 2 with the safety pin markers:
