Strange alien-like cocoons are scattered along one wall of the Tramway, in Glasgow. Yet the bright colours of these mysterious objects certainly make them less threatening and, once you get nearer, you realise they are actually soft and intricate configurations of threads. Please "Meet Mighty Mathilde and Her Consort" by Sheila Hicks.
The American artist dividing her time between Paris and New York developed her passion for fibres at the end of the '50s, during a trip to South America. Working in Mexico, Chile and South Africa, she consolidated her practice, and started using fabrics and textiles as a common thread across cultures. Her work could indeed be considered similar to an ethnographer's: Hicks researches the textile traditions of a country and then she applies those technique and methods to her works.
For decades she has been creating textile pieces using the most disparate techniques, from weaving and twisting to crocheting, developing her own experimental style and employing in her pieces natural and synthetic fibres and textiles in rioutous and clashing colours, quite often arranged, assembled and molded in abstract formations that call to mind other disciplines such as painting and sculpture.
Commissioned by Glasgow International and supported by Alison Jacques Gallery, "Mighty Mathilde and Her Consort" consists in a vertical mesh of twists and turns made of soft, pliable, sculptural threads tightly wound together into a dense maze or tower occupying the full height of the building.
The Tramway installation is actually rather personal as the mass of cocoons and threads are inspired by three friends of the artist – Matilda, Mathilde and Irma – with whom she is working on various projects. The dimensions of the largest piece refer to their high expectations, while the colours could be a hint to their energies.
The material and the handwork are central to Sheila Hicks' practice, and in this case they also assume new meanings as, knotted and tied to the steel structure of this industrial building where they are displayed (a tram factory and depot from 1893 to the early 1960s) they enter in an architectural and social dialogue with the space, hinting at the perennial dichotomy between hand-made and machine-made.
Throughout her career, Hicks worked in many dfferent countries and her practice assumes a new meaning at the Tramway: this space is indeed located in the heart of Pollokshields where a large number of South Asians moved from the late 19th century on, establishing a Scottish Asian community. Threads are employed to create wonderfully varied tapestries, but, rather than being merely decorative, Hicks' fabric friends could be conceived as symbols uniting visitors and cultures together.
Hicks' installation is part of a group show curated by Glasgow International Director Sarah McCrory and co-designed by Martin Boyce, including artists Alexandra Bircken, Lawrence Lek, Mika Rottenberg and Amie Siegel.
Sheila Hicks, "Mighty Mathilde and Her Consort", Glasgow International, Tramway, 25 Albert Drive, Glasgow, until 25th April 2016.
Image credits for this post
All images by Ruth Clark.
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