01 Apr Bias Bound 1
I wrote my way through February and March. I gathered all the writing that came out of me and put it ON something. I was object and subject and definitely felt at times (in the hospital) that I was performed upon. Art-ing about it allows me to take back that agency. The one dimension that was so apparently disabled is mobilised into something new – Bias bound.
If I was to fashion this curative object, what would it look like?
[When you are desperate you will try anything.] I found the red flannel in the studio, it is always handy and is recommended for all kinds of ailments. I wore it about the abdomen for three days to understand it. Having it next to the skin allowed me to feel something new, sending slightly scratchy signals through the skin and interrupted the pain. I wrote it out of my system – performed it, and released it to the surface of a piece of calico fabric. Calico is used as a sling or for splinting in first aid.
To acquire the bias cut – it must be 45 degrees from the selvage edge. it cuts diagonally across the weft and warp and scrambled the reading order of my text. Private. When all the bias cut strips were joined together it resulted in a 17 metre length.
This box of tools was a gift from a friend at Christmas. I used them to transform the 17 mtr strip of reordered writing into bias binding. It was my first time using an awl. Its surgical point aids the transition of the material through the aperture of the blue folding jig. Pinning clamping, pulling pressing, measuring deliberate acts onto my private surface.
I played with the arrangement of the material in the studio.
Next stage involves attaching the bias binding to the red flannel and fashioning the curative girdle so that I can begin to understand how best to wear, interact, perform with this new object. What will it feel like, constrictive or supportive?