You Are the Journey (an embroidered intervention)

Claire Barber (Artist)

Research output: Non-textual formArtefact

Abstract

In 2006 myself and the painter R.A.Webb redesigned the Hythe to Southampton Pier and Ferry ten-journey ticket, to bring small messages from other passengers to the punch hole spaces; short phrases and poems that capture glimpses, thoughts or feelings from a commuter community taking an everyday journey to work. The Hythe Pier train shuttles commuters back and forth between land and water. It contains the passengers’ journey with the narrow 363 meter stretch of planks and metal ballasts which lead them to board the ferry at the far end. In the position of this long walkway and pier train track at each end of the journey, a parallel can be found with a selvedge – the process which forms a firm configuration of warp and weft threads at the extreme lateral edges of the cloth, in order to contain the fabric and stop it fraying. So too, the edge of the ticket is intensified by the punch holes spaces, and by passengers’ quotes which carry meaning through the inter-related composition and correspondence of each phrase.

To this day the threads of the coat captures utilitarian as well as poetic felt experiences in the warm, worn and fraying red fibres; concomitantly packets of used transport tickets are seemingly insubstantial everyday ephemera that are no longer valued as a commodity or document of travel and could easily be thrown away. However I would suggest that the tangible mater of a used transport ticket is capable of carrying the stories of others, revealed in the creases and wear and tear of a used tickets surface, and its intimate use and storage in a purse, back pocket or wallet. Concomitantly fragmented memories captured in the re-articulation of warp and weft threads from the seams and inside pockets of used outdoor clothing may be reactivated through the surface of the tickets form.

You Are the Journey has been exhibited independently from the artwork's original maritime location at One Church Street Gallery, Great Missenden (2015), Frameless Gallery, London (2015) and at the Contextile16 Textile Art Biennial, Guimaraes, Portugal (2016). Finally, the work was exhibited at Migrations curated by Professor Jessica Hemmings at Huddersfield Art Gallery, West Yorkshire (2016). Jessica Hemmings, in her statement to support the exhibition states that:
'The portability of textiles - the ease with which they move around the globe - and their hybrid position within the world of craft, design and art make them particularly apt carriers of culture. Alongside this portability is the reality that the textile often exists as a multiple. While textiles roam, others stay closer to home. Migrations has travelled to America, Ireland, Australia and now England. Brought together are contemporary artists, designers and an author who all work at the intersection of culture and use multiple, portable textiles as their vehicle.' (2016)
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 6 Feb 2015

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