Transitional objects is series of 5 stitched sculptures made using a selection of sheets, towels and clothing that belonged to my parents who both died last year. Making the sculptures has been a cathartic part of my grieving process.
They were made for the seam collective exhibition, A Visible THREAD, and were first shown at ACEarts, Somerton in Nov/Dec. 2022, where visitors were invited to interact with them. Here are some images of the sculptures installed at ACEarts and some of visitors interacting with them.
The invitation said:
'Please touch Lou’s sculptures.
Investigate their textures and surfaces.
Lift them, rearrange them, move them around the space. Play with them.
Feel free to sit with them for a while.
Chill.
Let them put an arm around you.
Lean on them. Give them a hug.
Take some photos or a selfie
and post them on social media.
Tag @loubakerartist.
Cloth is like a second skin. It has clear associations with comfort and the body. Lou has transformed a selection of her late parents’ used clothing, bedding and towels, combining them with parts of some unfinished, stitched sculptures plus some carefully selected found and manipulated textural surfaces.
Using what she describes as ‘sloppy stitch’, but with great care and thought, she has fashioned 5 alluring, yet also somehow uncanny, body-like sculptures. Intensively quilting, patching and mending cloth that holds memory has comforted her as she has begun to process the complexities of grief.
Conscious that most people can’t help touching her work, and that the word ‘textile’ has the same etymological root as ‘tactile’, these curious, life-sized, highly textured sculptures have been made to be touched.'
I am challenging myself to be more sustainable in my practice so everything I used to make these sculptures was recycled or were things I already had.
Here are images of the individual sculptures:
Transitional object 1 (also called (m)other 2) : used sheet, towel & underwear, zip, label
Transitional object 2: vintage blanket, used sheet & plastic undersheet, zip, label
Transitional object 3: imitation leather, used waterproof undersheet, flannels & towel, canvas, felted knitting, used clothing, fake fur, label
Transitional object 4: used duvet cover & shower curtain, leather, towel, canvas, tights, felted knitting, label
Transitional object 5: used duvet cover, duvet, sheet, & hospital gown, fake fur, imitation leather, tights, human hair, nails, PVC, netting, label