How aware are you about how much you are being tracked, documented and monitored? How does this make you feel? Uncomfortable or safe?
In front of you lies a colour coded, data fed, hand crafted quilt that holds stories, journeys and activities woven within its functionality as a comforting intimate object. A traditionally crafted object whose patterns are not merely aesthetic but they lure you into asking questions in order to truly interact, understand and engage with said quilt.
Throughout my project I have explored the ways in which textiles can be used as a visual language that brings people together. It is through this process that I have developed a technique that allows me to formulate my own coded visual language with the use of a weaving loom. While using myself as a case study to take ownership of ‘self-surveillance’ I have been inspired by the origins of the Jacquard looms – with their connections to coded language - and the functionality of domestic craft to translate personal data. The nature of ‘encrypted data’ relies on engagement in conversations, storytelling and sharing experiences. This transforms personal reflections into a community of safe spaces, whereby interactions are vital to reading the coded patterns and enlivening the piece.
