1. The Labour of Emotions, The Emotions of Textiles
2023 - Ongoing
Print, Interactive Installation
Honours Project for BDes at Massey University, Wellington NZ
My Bachelor of Design Honours project – ‘The Labour of Emotions, The Emotion of Textiles’ explores the relationship between emotional labour and textiles, finding their overlap through conversations with textile practitioners from Sweden and Aotearoa, as well as my own making. Concluding in a collection of intricate, unseen and sensorial moments, made seen through a workshop-come-exhibition that invites its audience – through interactive sculpture, audio soundscape, and accompanying print guides – into the world where these two topics weave together.
Each visitor is greeted with a ball of ‘yarn’ made from recycled sheets, a military style dog tag, and an introductory print - explaining the concept and how to interact with the piece. Emotional labour and textiles both reside in unseen corners - their intricacies only available to those who understand their scope. This piece invites it’s audience through a sensorial understanding into their overlapping world. They carve their name onto their dog tag - an overt symbol of service - and hang it proudly next to the weave they incorporate onto the sculpture - claiming their labour. The interactive installation is accompanied then by a series of interviews with six textile practitioners from Sweden and New Zealand alike - as well as an autoethnographic commentary running throughout.
* You can see and read the full interviews here *
Installation and interactive exhibition at Punaka Collective, Wellington.
Installation at ‘Exposure Exhibition’ Massey University, Graduate Design Show Wellington NZ
After the ‘labourers’ had worked on it.