Identity Tapestry

Identity Tapestry

This iteration done at "Alchemy" (Cellspace, San Francisco 4/26/08)

full picture

The Action:

Each participant (visitor) takes a stone wrapped in yarn from the shelf to the left.

They unravel it, hooking the yarn to statements on the wall that they feel show something important about who they are...

...They may choose to loop through every statement that applies them, or only the three most essential.

As each person maps aspects of their identity they will leave a line- their mark on the drawing. Complex portraits develop as simple statements are linked together. Anyone coming later will be able to trace other visitor’s paths. As more and more people add their lines, patterns will emerge, and a tapestry of human identity will form.

When the participant has finished marking their statements (or they run out of string), they can set it the stone on the ground, or allow it to dangle from their last statement.

Some rolls of yarn may be more used up than others- some may have the stone exposed, some may be still covered, and a few may be left suspended- used up before they reach the ground.

Just as we all have differing amounts of life without initially knowing how much, the yarn is different lengths.

About the Materials:

This iteration of the installation included over 200 statement plaques.

The artist personally dyed over 100 colors of yarn in addition to several existing colors so that each participant could have their own unique color.

A variety of different yarns were used, all single-ply natural wool selected for a variety of texture and thickness, and for softness in the hand.

These pictures are from the installation at "Alchemy" (Cellspace, San Francisco 4/26/08)

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