“Free yourself of any traditional concept of what embroidery
should be …”
Mariska Karasz, Adventure in Stitches, 1949
In
eighteenth-century literature the figure of the woman embroidering not only
represented the pinnacle of good-breeding and virtue but also one of sexual
provocation. This is because, focused on her stitching, she was exposed to the
male gaze. The artist, swany, challenges the traditional decorative
connotations of embroidery deliberately going against the assumed
decorativeness of needle and thread. With his work, because it often deals with
gender issues, he uses embroidery and stitching to deconstruct certain societal
perceptions: 1) that it is a craft associated with the feminine (specifically
the female sex) and not considered an art form but a craft, 2) the manner in
which he creates it which is associated with the masculine (in a factory, on
production lines) as well as the non-creative, reproduction of banal images.
In Prick! he
presents his recent explorations with embroidery and gender, and which reflect
his continued struggle against societal constraints and prejudices.
The artist has an
honours degree in visual arts from UNISA and is currently studying for his
masters in visual arts. He is employed as the KZN arts mentor lecturer for
UNISA (part-time) as well as a designer in the clothing industry (full-time).
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