Maps, part 3, 2009

Somehow, I should be able to merge maps and clothing to represent who we really are: person and place, our physical being and what we're thinking. I keep trying to combine clothing and architecture, too - the idea of constructing ourselves. I keep attempting this, and have never truly succeeded - yet. These three pieces are based on my grandmother, my mother and myself. In each case, the apron-figure is overlaid with a map, a place that is entwined and stitched to the person.

Apron Excavation (50"h x 36"w)

I had dyed an apron dark brown, then rolled it, still-wet, into a white tablecloth. This gave me a print. Then I sewed it over layers of wool which had been cut to represent the streets of Warsaw. My grandmother came from Poland, I don't know where, so I improvised and just used a very stylized map of Warsaw. (If I was actually able to find a map of her town, it would probably only have one road).

Apron Excavation #2 (50"h x 36")

Another print of the brown apron, a bit lighter, and cut out of the tablecloth. My mother was born and raised in Bayonne, NJ, and those (very stylized) streets imprison her apron figure.

Her pockets are full of the minutiae and religion that made up her life.

Apron Excavation #3 (50"h x 36"w)

Here's the actual apron that was printed on the other 2 maps. Here, the section of Passaic where I live has been mapped onto my apron figure. The green (vaguely boot-shaped) section is the local park. And while my life is made of the same minutiae as my mother's, it has more color, and a lot more freedom.