The idea is that when people spend a long time together as a couple or in a group, they rely on each other to remember something that is also important to themselves. I love the idea that there are parts of our thoughts, memories and experiences stored in the minds of people we love. Essentially I suppose it tackles the importance of feeling part of something else, or belonging to a community. At first my interest in creating double in my artwork felt to be about exploring two identities an old one in the country I grew up in and the new country. The experience of mirroring also comes to mind, where the parents of a child are tasked with feeding back facial expressions as feelings or experiences, so that the baby can start to make sense of their feelings and responses. I like the playfulness of these buffaloes, they seem to be thinking about a shared memory or thought, something amusing maybe.
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In recent months I have been working mainly on embroideries, zooming in on the unique details of insects, plants and animals. These play a huge role in identity. With these embroideries I have been exploring aspects of familiarity and otherness and the smallest parts that make a whole. As I work on local plants and creatures, I learn about folklore, history and the simplicity of shape and forms around me. Moths and butterflies represent transformation, the capacity to go through and survive huge changes in a lifetime. Beetles represent strength and community, the ability to get huge things done when working together. In moving countries I have experienced being an outsider, which has raised many complicated feelings around identity and what makes us who we are. As I zoom in ever closer to the inner workings of plants and insects, I am in a process of delving into the microscopic details within beings. Becoming acquainted with the political environment in a new country and seeing your own country from a birds eye view is an important and at times uncomfortable experience. There are so many intricacies to who we are, what we do and how we interact with others. In all the tiny pieces that make up the final design in my embroideries I'm reminded of how easy it is to forget these when looking on the design as a whole. Seeing society as a powerful singular organism makes it easy to lose sight of the millions of individuals who make up a city, a country, the world, but each dot carries weight, each dot has the capacity to transform, to make changes.
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AuthorBeth Hoyes - Art Psychotherapist, Artist and Writer Archives
June 2020
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