Frayed Bodies: Loose Gatherings - Arm by Ruth Elvira Gilmour

Textile / Conceptual Design

Published: 19.11.2020

Ruth Gilmour deals in her work with her own vulnerability, which she addresses through craftsmanship. These are special issues in the current situation with regard to working from home under health considerations. Ruth Gilmour’s textile works question the unified and self-contained self and show the diversity of physical nature and the various concepts of being. Own experiences and memories are implemented in both traditionally crafted and modern digital processes. The starting point for the work is worried about the state of the world and one's own health, which should find a solution in the combination of body and material. Ruth Gilmour, therefore, uses materials such as silk with its transparency, delicacy, and strength to depict skin and bones, to symbolize sensitivity and contrasts. She sees the choice of silk as problematic, as silk on the one hand forms a pleasant, comforting material, but on the other hand, it is obtained by destroying the protective cocoons of other living beings. Her work is based on digital photographs of her own body, which are digitally printed on silk and then processed with a needle, whereby the image is deconstructed and alienated, the material being dissolved to form fringes, which in turn are reminiscent of old communication systems. By dividing, fraying, folding, and knotting, the body is multiplied by innumerable threads coloured by information. Similar to the body itself, the work is constantly changing.