The maker and the user

The Maker And The User is an installation that displays a piece of contemporary lace-work depicting women working in a sweatshop. This hand-crafted object sits quietly next to a large quantity of mass produced technicolour clothing, purchased from local opportunity shops.

Installation view and motel entrance (photo Shane Hills)

Exhibited In the Kar-rma Motel (curated by Kristian Haggblom) as part of the Mildura Palimpsest #8, Collaborators and Saboteurs, The Maker And The User was adapted to suit the space of a motel room. A motel is a space where we are accommodated by strangers, providing a safe and familiar harbour in an unfamiliar town. Cotching mimics this relationship by cocooning her work in a space constructed from the work of unknown people, utilising mass produced clothing as shelter for a single hand-crafted art object.

The Maker And The User (detail)
Bobbin lace, 2011

The installation poses questions about the nature of labour and the role of the individual in an exchange driven world. The viewer is invited to weigh up the value of the two components: the work of an individual artist with its bourgeois connotations, and the the mass produced work of the process worker that has been purchased, used a little, then discarded.

The Maker And The User (work in progress)
Stitched clothing, 2011

The textile industry has a long history of labour, exploitation, wealth, and revolution. At the beginning of the 19th century disgruntled textile workers stormed factories and destroyed the machines that had a devastating effect on their lives. Today as consumers we collaborate with large and oppressive industries by viewing the things we use as products of a machine or company, rather than the product of another person's work. If we were to acknowledge the human aspect involved in creating our possessions we may realise we have not paid enough for them, and our conscience may ask us to sabotage the lifestyles we have chosen to enjoy.

The Maker And The User (work in progress)
Bobbin lace (bobbins, thread, pins and pillow)
2011

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Softly Softly (the maker and the user)

Softly, softly (the maker and the user)
Hand made bobbin lace, synthetic velvet,
machined lace, stuffing
Exhibited at the Cardross show, 2011
 
 In an attempt to gain recognition of my hard work as an artist I stitched one of my lace pieces onto velveteen and entered it into the "prettiest cushion" section at the Cardross show. It didn't win. 
Through the inclusion of this work in a local country fair I was exploring where my practice might sit as a regional artist who employs craft techniques. There are limited exhibition opportunities in regional Victoria and artists need to work outside of the gallery context, with this in mind it is important to question is how much the integrity of the artwork comes down to the way it is packaged and the context in which it is exhibited.

see The makers (well packaged)  for the next instalment of this work.

Residue of a Fabricated Landscape

Residue of a Fabricated Landscape, 2011

Blades, modelling material, and watercolour

Residue of a Fabricated landscape is a reminder of the ‘prickly’ and hazardous circumstances that are created as a by product of our work on an industrial and personal scale.

Exhibited at whitecubemildura