Peace is death - a fibersculpture for artexplosion and needleworkmonday
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Peace is death
18 x 12 cm (mask) and 25 x 30 cm (knitting)
Clay, nails, knitted fabric
Peace is death, is standstill, is nothingness, is everything.
Peace is hurting, the loss is hurting, you are frightening me, everything is frightening me.
There is loss in every ancient stone, loss buried by the sea, by my pain, my sadness, life.
Someone is drowning right now
Someone is drowning right now
Peace is death, is the sea, the loss of pain, the loss of love, is death, is life.
I am living in a bubble…. My world is ok, I have water, food, a nice flat, a loving husband. Everything is ok. For me. It is hard to accept that there are people dying in the sea, drowning because we do not help them. Because they have no papers, or nobody thinks he is responsible for them, because someone believe they will be a burden, they could cost money??! I am so outraged about this. Words are failing me…
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Again, I started with the idea of an ancient death mask. A mask which usually was made of beeswax, and because of this material is seldom conserved. But visualizing death and stillness was not enough for me. I wanted to lend the sculpture an ambiguity, to illustrate that in this death something is lost for everybody. That this death is happening with pain and will bring pain – therefore the nails – that with this death a whole person is lost: The love, the ideas, the shared moments, everything. I used the knitted fabric as a symbol for a life. I borrowed this concept from Norse, Greece and Roman mythology, were you can find the concept of three norns or moirai who represent and determine the destiny of humans. These goddesses are often pictured as spinning, weaving and cutting fabric, while the yarn may symbolise the personal life and the fabric the tapestry of events which occur throughout a lifetime or even in the world. Besides making knots, and with this I thought also knitting, was deemed a technique to work magic.
The nails I inserted not only to show individual pain and suffering, they also reminded me of the Christian crown of thorns, which can be interpreted as a taking a burden for others: someone drowning, suffering for me….
So, we have not only the hard and unmoving death mask with its iron nails, we also have the soft pink fabric, as a symbol of life, a symbol of our interconnectedness. The One death will hurt us all. The knitted fabric I used as a representation of the individual lifetime; a life started with a neat ribbing. A fabric which step by step loses its connection, which has wholes, and rips, and unravels as its nearing its end. But on this sadness, something new (flowery) is already growing, hope for other lives to be saved or opinions changed.
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Process
The mask I made with self-drying clay. I worked the rough form of the head over a ball made from old newspapers to get the curvature right. Afterwards I added clay for the forehead, chin and lips and cut away clay to form the eyes. I wanted to work a face which could be perceived as female, without making something explicit womanly. I wanted the surface to stay rough, to show its suffering, perhaps the missing food, the sadness, the fear of death. At last I inserted nails (with there heads) of varying length into the forehead and the mouth.
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The knitting I made from a fuzzy lace yarn. The beginning rows are made neatly and orderly in a rib stitch and while progressing I changed to stockinette in bigger and bigger needles.
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Additionally, I dropped stitches and made extremely big yarnovers, to create a fabric which loses all its integrity and order. Into the lose fabric I crocheted forms which may be interpreted as petals and flowers. The last step was to connect these flowers by surface crochet. And naturally to make the photos :-D
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This is my entry for @juliakponsford artexplosion contest with the theme ‘Mask’ and simultaneously this weeks #needleworkmonday post :-D
Thank you @juliakponsford and @crosheille for hosting, curating and for being a constant inpiration <3
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I am so sorry for needing so long to answer your comment : sorrrryyyy
Thank you so much for the compliments and I am happy that you liked the a tad unusual combination of knitting and clay work <3
I think it is a very powerful entry for the contest, @neumannsalva. All too often words fail me to describe my feelings of dis-empowerment when I read about people trying to cross the seas looking for a stability and safety. At the moment there's also turmoil in Latin America where scores of Nicaraguans and Venezuelans are also struggling to keep going and many take the decision to leave their land meeting rejections of all sorts in their way. All this suffering and injustice does put my own problems into perspective...
Thank you for your kind words. I first was afraid to publish this post, because I thought it kitschy, I thought that I got overboard with my feelings, so it is good to hear your affirmation. My husband is working in a Charity organization which tries to help many different discriminated groups. Refugees are also one of them. To see how people after a perilous flight, who have lost relatives and everything else, are treated can be very saddening. There is so much wealth in this country (and the western world in general) .... It is a shame to see how the poorest in theses societies are played (in their poverty and fear of loss) against each other.
I wonder what art is but feelings. I guess fear is always there (what others will say, what others think), it is there to keep us under control.
You are right, art can/should arouse feelings, but also, I hope (critical) thinking. With my answer to @cryptocariad I wanted to illustrate that I have often a divided opinion of my own art: during the process i am mostly convinced that my idea is valid and worth to be pursued. But when I am finished and have more distance to my work, the critic sets in... and as I have studied art history I can convince myself easily that my own (often negative) thoughts about my artwork are absolutely accurate (funnily in a debate outside my artworks I am more of a constructivist :-DD). I perhaps have already said this... my brain is not always helpful :-D
What a truly amazing post - honestly, words fail me here. Your poem is so honest and true and it is heartbreaking and your mask and crochet art here expresses it so perfectly. Resteemed
Wow - thank you so much for your compliment. It is always good to hear that an artwork could reach the observer, that there could be found meaning. I am often unsure if I am able to transmit my thoughts and feelings, and once the artwork is finished it is no longer mine, but free for interpretation. So I feel doubly touched, that you seem to feel very similar. Thank you for your support <3
Whoa!! There is so much emotion in this post! I see the pain and hurting caused by death but then I see the beauty in the art. Your mask alone expresses the emotion you were going for and then adding the nails was a wow factor.
I love that you intertwined the beauty of different arts together...amazing how you added the knitted piece to represent a lifetime. I love how you are not afraid to step out of the box and run wild with your imagination. Your artistry just keeps on rising to the limits and I am glad to be apart of it and see you blossom! You are truly an inspiration @neumannsalva!
Thank you for sharing this marvelous piece and the process and I root for you in this competition!!! 😃😘
Yes - I did it - you liked it!!!! I am so often unsure if I can transmit my feelings and thought through art. While working on the project I am convinced by my own ideas and images (in my head), but when I am finished, the doubts creep in. So, I am super touched by your interpretation and I am happy (although it is a sad topic) that I could reach out and visualize my thoughts. This community (and this means especially you) is a constant help for me to dare something new, your support lets me laugh about my mistakes and let me dare to share my vulnerabilities.
Thank you <3
Awwww 🤗 you are such a jewel to this community! You are inspiring many to “dare” to be creative! We need more artists like you to come out of the trenches and not be afraid to venture out into the unknown. I love interpreting your art, it’s always fun to see what you will come up with next. You are truly an inspiration here in the needlework community and on Steemit in general!! ❤️
Wow... You are truly an artist @neumannsalva! The poem, the death mask, the knitting! No one combines these elements better than you! They are both powerful and beautiful. A true statement. Peace is dark, much death goes into achieving it and sometimes, it is nowhere near even after all the sacrifices made.
Thank you so much for the compliment - although I am sure I am still learning and I often see more mistakes than merits in my own work (ok... perhaps this is normal) And I love your last sentence!!! This is the essence of what I wanted to say <3
I have to say this time I got caught by the other mask.
You know Im a fan of your crafts but those deep thoughts really touched me..I don´t know..Pain, Sadness, Truth, all together..the Masked Death.. the Mask of Peace .
Thank you @neumannsalva
You are an amazing artist
Ohhhh I am blushing! Thank you so much for your compliment. And it is so great and touching to hear that my work could arouse all this feelings and thoughts - thank you so much for sharing this with me, and thank you for your support.
And I can only give the complements back, because I still remember your antler fish or your painting 'Find what you love and let it kill you'
Now I’m blushing. For real.
I know is a very depressive thought but.. Is nice to be remembered :)
Cheers!
You are a true artist @neumannsalva ! I hope you'll have a chance to exhibit it somewhere - it's a powerful piece of art.
The textures compliment each other so beautifully and the concept of death, pain, peace and beauty are truly reflected in your mask. Well done!
Wishing you all the success in the contest!
Thank you for your kind words and to exhibit some of my artworks is a dream (I made one little exhibition in February, my first) But I am not very good in self marketing and this is an understatemant...
Congratulations on your first expo! I hope you enjoyed the experience!
I worked in a small art gallery for many years and saw first-hand that a lot of good artists are very shy, without good reason. I know self- promotion can be daunting, but worth pursuing, otherwise, how will the world know about your beautiful work? You'll be doing everyone a favour by telling about your art :D
All the best with it! Hope to see more.
This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.
Thank youuu
This will absolutely place if I had this contest. Well done.
Thank you so much for the compliment (and it means a lot, because your mask is amazing!!!!) Therefore : congratulation on your @curie vote, it is really earned <3
Thank you very much. It was a pleasant surprise.
UHHHHH amazing! I love the contrast of soft and hard materials together, you always make me want to get my crochet hook out again!
So happy you like it and that my idea seems to be comprehensible. And if I inspire you to crochet again, even better :-D