THE PROCESS
The process of creating and viewing the fabric art scrolls include five steps in reimagining the narrative:
Reconstructing the Narrative: This process includes the creative process of extraction and erasure, by extracting profound messages from old narratives to create a a new contemporary narrative to be seen through a new lens. The black lines and blank spaces between phrases of text represent the narratives that exist in history which are no longer seen, along with the silenced voices that are now represented by this absence.
Contemplating the Narrative: This step includes a focused session of writing in stream of consciousness, without punctuation or censoring, while responding to the complex issues within the erasures.
Assembling the Narrative: This process begins by printing all the creative writing on fabric, and stitching each fabric page together to form the foundation of the scroll. Then, profound phrases are layered and stitched onto each scroll in a repetitive format, as they repeat in the mind. The new narratives are printed on fabric, torn apart, stitched together, and layered with repetitive phrases from the erasures and streams of consciousness. Threads remain loose––like the narrative––to represent the instability of narrative truth.
Quilting the Narrative: This last step in creating the scrolls includes quilting the front and the back fabric of the scroll to batting. Quilting strengthens the stitching and longevity of the narratives. The new versions of the narratives within the stitches of the scrolls attempt to retell history from a new perspective.
Interacting with the Narrative: This visual retelling allows the viewer to re-see narratives that might otherwise not be seen, through a new contemporary lens. The viewer is invited to immerse themselves into an experience and an exercise in reimagining the narrative through what they see––and what they do not see––along with their own experience with race and race relations. The black lines and blank spaces allow the viewer to fill in the gaps with their own story, while reimagining the stories that have been retold. In this experience, the narrative becomes that of the viewer, and the words and blank spaces act as windows and doorways into minds and souls, and becomes what each viewer tells themselves and the world around them.