wandering sailor
wandering sailor, a short film and its surrounding body of work, explores a fictional and fantastical narrative -
the winding journey of a Sailor, a queer archetype, who wakes up in the New Forest, an uncertain and unfamiliar terrain, and how the sailor finds their way using unconventional methods of navigation:
a ‘telescope’ made out of rolled up cardboard covered with
individual chocolate wrappers, an eye to see througha paper hat, folded as a child would, a sense memory hanging in
the balance, a cloud drifts across the sun and changes our moodGorse flowers, pressed and laid out in the shape of an arrow, an
individual flower drifting across a puddle on the heath, a guide
to north and south, along this journey, the sailor begins to notice a code within the language of the forest, seeing ‘accidental’ X’s in brambles and sticks.
drawing from various folklore,
plantlore, myths and sayings,
and through a documentation
of the everyday, this work was
developed during a year at
spudWORKS, Sway, New
Forest.
exhibited within:
Possibilities, Gaps, Overlaps -
a group exhibition with Jindra
Jehu, Leylah Morley & Zara
Linsley at SPUD.
Go South - pressed gorse & charcoal
Gorse Divination
whilst at sea, sailors repaired sails, their own clothing, customised hats with intricate embroidery and made delicate folk art.
the Sailor’s Hat and Flag reinterpret this textiles labour, using hand embroidery and appliqué.
during the introspective, solitary work of stitching, the symbol of a sweet chestnut shell dried open like a ‘X’ emerges, an emblem of unknown origin hinting at a transformation.
Sailor’s Hat and To Cross a Threshold
Flag - An Open Mesh - Silk, Cotton handkerchief, thread
Sailor’s Hat - Linen, Silk, Cotton thread
a sailor’s hat, appliqued and hand-embroidered with an emblem of a sweet chestnut shell, dried
open like a X.
cross stitches hold a band of silk around the head band. small crosses scatter across a black
surface.
worn as a uniform, a costume, a signifier of transformation
To Cross a Threshold - wallpaper lining, oil pastel, quink ink, pine needles, masking tape, invisible thread
Symbols laid out around a circle. Arrows fading, imprints, traces. Time stood still.
The act of scattering, sorting, discarding, arranging, stitching. What is the meaning of a X?
‘X marks the spot’
to ‘cross’ something out as the eradication of or censoring of something (an identity)
an entrance, an exit, an incision, a spell, a protection, a warning, a kiss.
Shadow - Quink ink on wallpaper lining
To Step on a Crack - charcoal
To Mistake an Eye for an Eye - Cardboard, Chocolate wrappers, Gouache
