Interdisciplinary Approaches to Corpse Work
I will be speaking at the one day symposium 'Interdisciplinary Approaches to Corpse Work' event in June about my research surrounding cloth and clothing found in mass graves.
Abstract
My research explores fabric andclothing found in mass graves whichhas evolved into interdisciplinarysculptural installation artwork. Memory,individuality and identity is indelibly leftbehind within materials and belongingsincluding our bones. In this paper Iwill discuss how my research developsinto artwork exploring identity andindividuality. I will show examples ofmy work to date as well as exploring thethemes that I propose to continue toresearch within a PhD next year.Textiles and clothing are often part of theprimary tools used to identify humanremains after atrocity. In Rwanda peoplehad made their own clothing making itvery personal and individual. In Bosnia,particularly Srebrenica, people hadnot been able to leave the enclave, andresorted to making and repairing theirclothing. In Iraq, many people began tosew their identity documents into secretpockets within their clothing. Theseidentity documents were later vital forthe identification of the dead. The fabricused as blindfolds and ligatures, in BosniaHerzegovina were consistent across manymass grave sites this evidence was partof the proof that events at Srebrenicaamounted to genocide.Fabric is an important part of identifyingthese individuals and it is this researchthat has formed the basis of my artisticpractice for the last 3 to 4 years. I haveexplored evidence of fabric found withinMass Graves predominantly withinBosnia but also other countries includingKosovo and Iraq. Borders too are animportant element for my exploration, theborders between countries as a touchpointfor conflict, but clothing and skin, lifeand death, homeland and refugee are alsoborders. This work has evolved throughmy undergraduate degree in Textiles forwhich I was awarded first class honours,and into my current MFA (Master of FineArt) at Oxford Brookes University.