SPELLBOUND
BY AMANDA WOLF
x
Pricked fingers. Static electricity.
To play with fabric is a Frankenstein drive
to spawn something from the body,
that speaks of the body, and to the body.
It’s alive!
But only when dreamed into being,
slipped into, plunged with the needle, gazed upon with want.
(And touched, always touched).
Like a protest banner. a Halloween disguise. a blanket fort. a homemade dress.
In the right hands, a humble piece of cloth is a shapeshifter full of possibilities
just waiting to be coaxed into its true form.
It stretches out as a space that invites transformation.
As something that can simultaneously be worn, hidden inside, torn apart, reconfigured
Emblazoned with secrets, battle cries, memories, and desires.
A funhouse mirror, a security blanket
That reveals more than it hides.
xx
Bound to the body and the imagination:
sewing and its allied processes can be positioned as
labour, hobby, domestic, industrialised, frugal, medical, haute couture, old-worldly etc.
Lineages bound to traditionally feminine spheres have meant these mediums
have often been cast beyond the inner circle, exiled from The Canon. Trivialised.
But the joke’s on you, buddy!
- our tools of the trade are a weapon
and the outer fringes are a fertile breeding ground for the underdog.
xxx
Unpicking, draping, cutting, sewing, dressing.
Repairing. Connecting. Growing. Shedding.
The needle and the thread.
Over and under, again and again.
Actions often unseen and repeated with performative intensity.
They are a dance, both destructive and creative.
The hand tells a story and passes the time.
Am I drawing, or sculpting, or just thinking with my fingers?
xxxx
A clove hitch is a common crossing knot,
created by forming two half hitches around an object to create a temporary hold.
-a satisfying loop de loop-
It is a spell that is easily broken
and described as untrustworthy
(with a tendency to both slip and bind)
Within it we find all manner of witches, and suffocating second skins,
pleasure portals, and elephants in the room.
This loop de loop entangles the intimacy of second-hand lace
/ the ecstasy of imagined realms come to life / the potency of re-dressing the demons of the past /
and writing a happy ending for lovers everywhere.
The push and pull of our own Clove Hitch
follows the emotional fault lines of a slumber party
to create a space that echoes our bodies, raises our voices,
and spotlights our desires in a tangle of unraveled love hours
bound together
(only temporarily)
BY AMANDA WOLF
x
Pricked fingers. Static electricity.
To play with fabric is a Frankenstein drive
to spawn something from the body,
that speaks of the body, and to the body.
It’s alive!
But only when dreamed into being,
slipped into, plunged with the needle, gazed upon with want.
(And touched, always touched).
Like a protest banner. a Halloween disguise. a blanket fort. a homemade dress.
In the right hands, a humble piece of cloth is a shapeshifter full of possibilities
just waiting to be coaxed into its true form.
It stretches out as a space that invites transformation.
As something that can simultaneously be worn, hidden inside, torn apart, reconfigured
Emblazoned with secrets, battle cries, memories, and desires.
A funhouse mirror, a security blanket
That reveals more than it hides.
xx
Bound to the body and the imagination:
sewing and its allied processes can be positioned as
labour, hobby, domestic, industrialised, frugal, medical, haute couture, old-worldly etc.
Lineages bound to traditionally feminine spheres have meant these mediums
have often been cast beyond the inner circle, exiled from The Canon. Trivialised.
But the joke’s on you, buddy!
- our tools of the trade are a weapon
and the outer fringes are a fertile breeding ground for the underdog.
xxx
Unpicking, draping, cutting, sewing, dressing.
Repairing. Connecting. Growing. Shedding.
The needle and the thread.
Over and under, again and again.
Actions often unseen and repeated with performative intensity.
They are a dance, both destructive and creative.
The hand tells a story and passes the time.
Am I drawing, or sculpting, or just thinking with my fingers?
xxxx
A clove hitch is a common crossing knot,
created by forming two half hitches around an object to create a temporary hold.
-a satisfying loop de loop-
It is a spell that is easily broken
and described as untrustworthy
(with a tendency to both slip and bind)
Within it we find all manner of witches, and suffocating second skins,
pleasure portals, and elephants in the room.
This loop de loop entangles the intimacy of second-hand lace
/ the ecstasy of imagined realms come to life / the potency of re-dressing the demons of the past /
and writing a happy ending for lovers everywhere.
The push and pull of our own Clove Hitch
follows the emotional fault lines of a slumber party
to create a space that echoes our bodies, raises our voices,
and spotlights our desires in a tangle of unraveled love hours
bound together
(only temporarily)