School Jumper, 2021
Hand-knitted acrylic and found wool, cotton tape, hand-embroidery
Drawing on the connection between knitting and family, this piece responds to the story of the school jumper hand-knitted by my Grandmother for my Mother. The embroidered initials reference my maternal line, though in the context of this object the thread between generations is traced not through any connection between the names but through the real and imagined inheritance of objects, stories and practices. Whereas my Great Grandmother and Grandmother knitted through necessity, I knit for release and expression. This change in the attitude towards craft illustrates the wider profound changes to labour and consumerism in society, and this is demonstrated at the core of the object through my privilege to actually be able to make something that skirts any practical functionality. This functionlessness is emphasised by the incorporation of garment features which create elements of recognisability and a sense of the uncanny, whilst also providing a context for the warped, unravelling and destabilised form to reflect the distortion of truth and memory over time. This subjectivity of memory is present in the piece as, although my Mother and I attended the same school and the piece responds to the story of her school jumper, it is translated into the style that I wore.