In 2009, I completed my Diploma of Visual Arts at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). My final piece was an ensemblage of prints, acrylic paintings, photos, test tubes, Petrie dishes, and a chemistry altered book. My topic for research was ‘virus’ and how to explore the visual imagery of specific virus’s. At the time the world was seeing the first wave of a SARS virus, in that case Swine Flu.
In retrospect, although scary, back then it was still a relatively lighthearted piece of research compared to todays jaded and at times terrifying look at the recent SARS- Corona Virus Pandemic.
Looking back at my work from 2009 and how the world view of anything virus has changed dramatically, I wanted to revisit my stack of acrylic painted printed swabs. During the past few years a lot of my focus during and post Melbourne lockdowns, my main focus has ben on embroidery. slow stitch, and textile applications and the study of. I was interested to see where I could take parts of my original work, using this new knowledge
As I laid out each piece as singular items and began to shuffle them around, I began to envision a more densely woven piece. And began to stitch them together.
As each thread passed over each little panel, the red thread, the white thread spoke of blood cells, red or white, and how the body utilises these to cary both health or virus around the body. At one point when the thread bunched up, it was jarring, much like the way a virus might affect a person. As the white thread ran out and was replaced on the bobbin by more red thread, I thought about oxygen and it running out. Even thought this piece started many years ago as a response to the first smaller pandemic of the Corona Virus - Swine Flu, I was now more in mind of the events of Covid 19, and how there are lasting results relating to breathing and breath - such as long covid and other related resporatory issues that many people now face with regards their health.