Home as Hat: Carla Braswell

"Carla Braswell" from Home as Hat

DECORATIVE THREAD

“Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercouse.” — Sir Francis Bacon

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." —Miuccia Prada

As this series begins to expand and solidify, I am very happy that I have chosen to hand craft these images with embroidery floss. This decorative thread is a 6 stranded cotton loosely twisted which comes in a stunning array of colors. It can also be made from silk, linen or rayon.

I am keenly aware when selecting the color thread for each photograph. Symbolically, each color ton top of the black and white portraits are representing the spirit I see in the individual and their juxtaposition with their surroundings. 

The textural and physical nature of stitching onto paper resonates wtih me. The thread gives the images a three dimensionality that I have been constantly trying to achieve in my work. Photography's very nature has always challenged me to break out of its two dimensional confines (see "Modern Merry Pranksters", "Authors in August" or "Bodies of Water" for example) and brings something fresh and new to it's flat surface.

Punching holes into the image almost feels sacrilegious but what emerges is more than decorative, I am literally drawing with thread. I have had to adjust my freehand stitching with the stiffer substrate of the photographic paper since it does not bend or bunch like fabric does. 

Over thousands of years decorative embroidery has been a way for people to express their own style through the materials they select and the designs they stitch into the fabric. Decorative thread has been embellishing our lives ever since, patching and reinforcing our desire to make our world a more beautiful place.

With a tip of the hat,

Julie Green

March 5, 2016