Experimenting with things that feel difficult - Studio - Nov/Dec 2025

A small wallhanging called ‘Innere Instanz’ made from stained ancestral linen, and pleated taffeta. Embroidered with the words ‘mama’ and ‘me’ as well as the four directions: N, E, S, W. Soaked with black ink. Hangs on a twig from the garden.

What is my true north?

Where does it hurt and what can I say about that?

Wall hanging called ‘cosmos’ made from painted ancestral linen and pleated taffeta. Embroidered with the words cosmos, me and E (for planet earth). Soaked with black ink. Hangs on a twig from the garden.

These experiments with things that feel difficult stem from deep and troubled places, the places where the harsh inner authority resides. The judgemental voice, often not our own but a parental voice that speaks from deep within, even if no-one is around. An unconscious compass.

My working title for these hangings was ‘boundaries’. It is an art to identify the sources of one’s inner dialogue and to pay attention to their different flavours and moods.

The title ‘cosmos’ hints at the enormity of life, the unfathomable expanse of the universe and us in it, me in it, a tiny speck of life. Yet that is all I have got. A human life on a planet zooming around infinity within millions of galaxies full to trillions of stars.

I especially love the contrast between the carefully crafted fabric pleats and the brutality of the ink staining. The manneristic and orderly folded fabric is hanging on a twig, which gives the works a witchy and mystical dimension. As if these hangings were charms to cast or break a spell. Tools to navigate the murky waters of the subconscious realms.