If you're a textile artist doing everything by hand you know that finishing a piece is a time-consuming activity and that, once you're done, the last thing you would like to see is your creation being destroyed by something such as clothes moths. That's not the case with artist Sarah Vaci, though.
The artist doesn't just work with fibres and she is known for employing a variety of mediums for her sculptures like in her work "I'm Just a Little Tired", a wool and silicone umbilical cord reshaped like a noose inspired by her own post-natal depression. This piece is part of an exhibition entitled "Pest and The Profound" and organised at Torquay-based Artizan Gallery.
The event opened yesterday (and will be on until 31st July) but its has already attracted the attention of many as it features a fibre wool triptych of three (in)famous leaders - US President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Their needle-felted smiling faces stand out on a bright red background and the portraits are framed in bold gilded frames, but Vaci is not celebrating them: look closer and you will see that there are indeed tiny moth larvae scattered on the textiles, so that the leaders are slowly yet relentlessly being eaten by moths.
The gesture is intriguing and provocative and behind it there are some terrific metaphors: here we have three men with huge powers and egos being eaten by tiny larvae who are carrying out a revolutionary act, as they are attempting to erase the leaders in the same way the three leaders are constantly trying to erase people they do not like.
So something tiny and disturbing as a larva can become a sign of strength, endurance and power and therefore of optimism.
Besides, Vaci makes a point about gender, as here we are staring at three powerful men in portraits made with a form of craft often linked with women.
Last but not least, the larvae could be considered as a memento mori for the three leaders: their egoes may be extremely huge, but at some point they will die like all human beings. In the meantime their transformation will go on in these fibre portraits.
The moths will also go through another transformation as they change colours according to what they eat, so they will become red, and leave behind holes and damages. Vaci will document the entire process (the moth larvae will be eating the leaders for the next 12 months...) on her Instagram and Facebook pages (the images in this post are taken from her Facebook page).
Is this art or craft? Well, that's not the real dilemma of this clever display, the final question is indeed to consider who is the real pest. And while you come up with an answer, Vaci should maybe start thinking about expanding the series with current British Prime Minister Boris Johnson or Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini. Food for thought for her, and possibly real food for her hungry larvae.
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