Embroiderers' Momentoes

This page was started Mother´s Day, May 10th 2009 and, eventually, I hope it will represent all the Embroiderers´ histories and handiwork.

For many of these contributors, there is a ´feeling´ of a maternal heritage link (connections with the ‘mother country’: Ireland/Northern Ireland and one’s own mother).

See some of the other creations by the Embroiderers of The Irish Linen Memorial below:

Artist Statement

Contemporary artists, like myself, make Art which is considered hybrid and has a fluid connection between the genre of both site sculpture / installation art / public art, as well as the intimacy of domestic needlework.

I am thankful for the Volunteer needleworkers, without whom this memorial would never have been possible. The sewing is very time consuming. It was started in 2004 and we hope to finish in 2010.

Some of the Embroiderers consider sewing a hobby; others consider embroidery in ‘chain stitch’ simply 'practical / utilitarian' sewing; many who have become interested in this project are also artists themselves; yet, most women do not have a professional or public outlet for their talents and earn their living outside of the arts. Also, the domestic setting was, and still is, a more common ´creative space´ for women who were/are also cooks, bakers/cake decorators, mothers, home-makers, carers (and/ or, in the past, they were seamstresses).

One of my early concepts for the memorial that my maternal grandmother used to send me handkerchiefs from Belfast to Vancouver, Canada. Also, my paternal grandmother was an expert needleworker, good at ´drawnwork´.

Research illustrates the links between postcolonial political literature – stories, cultural history and the craft of hand-done needlework.

Over the past decade of the making of this Irish Linen Memorial, I have found that the time-consuming nature of sewing, ironing, mending /cleaning /archiving linen is increasingly and rapidly becoming a ´thing of the past´…