The Fantasy
Medium: Cotton Embroidery on Muslin
The Fantasy is my first large-scale embroidered piece, a self-portrait that has required me to reflect on my image of myself and my relationship with the land. My figure is turned on her side, her hair splayed out behind her and slowly fading into a variety of native Virginian plants. Her arms are resting in front of her, with red flowers and leaves unfolding around her arms.
To embroider is to be forced to work slowly. Each stitch takes time and care; there are no large brushstrokes to fill space, and each color stands independently among the others. Using this medium to create an image of myself was challenging, empowering, and at times emotional; I reflected on versions of myself through time and the way I feel for each of them as I stitched each eyelash, mole, and fingernail. Who I am now and who I will become seem to be questions with soft and fluid answers, real but flexible like the fabric and thread between my fingers.
I have lived in Virginia for my entire life, and the plants that fill our woods and meadows are as familiar as family. To stitch them into myself, to see them bloom from my figure and grow from my flesh, has been cathartic. While struggling with depression, I have found both sorrow and relief in my inherent connection to the land and my eventual return to it. The Fantasy is a reminder to myself that the land is still a part of me while I walk and breathe, and that I will rejoin Earth in her own time.
