Suspended animation is made of forty three pieces of fabric that went into making one business jacket.
The way we organise ourselves or fit into existing structures underpins this work. The relationship between structures and people may be reciprocal. People change when they enter a structure, as much as they may change the structures they enter. However, because the machinery of a structure is often already given, it is easy to get caught up in its momentum.
Unpicking stitches from a garment renders it undone. It allows the pieces to be placed flat and reveals the pattern that went into its making. In this sense unpicking something turns undoing into understanding. I am moved by the potential this opens up. As I unpick, I get the sense that each piece recovers its autonomy from the shape into which it was fashioned. It can breathe for a moment before I refashion it into another arrangement.
Suspended animation (walk through), 2020. Deconstructed business jacket installation at Gallery Central, Perth. Video by Alex Spremberg.
