SARANGUA
LOOPHOLES
TOP 3 WINNERS 2021
Categories:
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Creativity - Are you making embroidery art that amazes and amuse?
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Community - Are you effectively engaging, understanding your community and delivering a message?
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Technique - Are you innovative and experimental with fabric and embroidery?
Creativity
"All I Need Is Within Me" by Sarah Trowsdale
‘Being able to call on internal reserves in difficult or unexpected situations to get you through it in a positive way is resilience.
This work is about the different parts of ourselves that feed into one another, the internal give and take of positives and negatives that is always going on inside.
My current work shows doorways to other places, within ourselves or outside ourselves. Whether in this time and space or another. The shape of a doorway usually feature in the work as doorways both open and close, you can enter or leave. It’s the never ending cycle of coming and going - a liminal space where transition occurs.
Since studying MA textile design in university, storytelling of lives became part of who I wanted to be and it’s something that I really want to keep doing in my art.
I specifically chose ‘warrior women’ because anger and violence are not considered acceptable feelings or reactions for women to have. I have done this by creating the war banners they never had.
I used recycled hand dyed textiles, hand embroidery and appliqué. I really enjoy mixing embroidery with other mediums like screen print on textiles.'
Community
"Patchwork jeans" by Ophelia Dos Santos
‘The impacts of climate change are undeniable, with extreme weathers across the world, from droughts and heat waves to sea level rising. It is easy to feel overwhelmed and believe that the global efforts to prevent climate change are insufficient. Through my work I am reminded of the collaborative effort needed to make real change – that the small repairs and patchwork I create are a part of a bigger resilience and movement.
My desire to learn more about embroidery has already allowed me to experience life-changing opportunities such as, my time living and studying in Shanghai. Taking part in China Creation Camp (a 3-month scholarship focused on Chinese fashion and textiles) had been a truly unique experience, having developed knowledge of the history of Chinese textiles and fashion culture.
I visited the Chinese Embroidery Art Museum in Suzhou; which really opened my eyes to the endless possibilities of embroidery. Traditional Chinese embroidery uses silk fibres fibres thinner than human hair, so the embroidered artworks were extremely detailed and often took a team months to complete each piece. Before approaching them closely, the embroidered artworks looked likes paintings!
My travels hugely inspire my work, having encouraged my love for portraits in all mediums – photography, textiles and paintings. I am drawn towards faces and portraits for their raw storytelling and emotions. By illustrating portraits, I found a contemporary style that I was excited by and could develop further – unlike the typical floral styles were taught on my course.'
Technique
"Perennial You" by Ckay Espinosa
‘I show resilience in the different stages of how I feel and cope with my anxiety. I always know there are better days and therefore when I felt the pressure from the pandemic and social media, I deactivated my account for a year during the pandemic to manage my anxiety and the feeling of being burnt out.’
My 20inch ‘You’re the Sunflower’ hand embroidery is the first piece I created where I felt free and at peace. It took me 5 months to create. I listened to Post Malone and Swae Lee’s song ‘Sunflower’ when I felt overwhelmed and it had a chill essence that I enjoyed.
I included three pieces in the exhibition. The dark smaller flower represents feelings of being numb, suffocated, and trapped. The overlapping flowers with eyes show the spread of anxiety and pressure. Peony's are perennial flowers meaning they can live longer than 2 years and even though they may die in the winter their root systems are very much alive and they come back the following spring. So the Peony is me or you and even though we're knocked down several times, I know for sure we will always come back stronger
I enjoy hand embroidery as you need a lot of patience and dedication, and each one of my work feel like it is a huge accomplishment.'