As a Textiles Designer I am familiar with designing fabric prints, woven fabrics and considering my audience. In my practice I endeavour to be as sustainable as possible and transparent in the materials chosen. I used recycled felt and cardboard. This project was an opportunity to design and make a textiles art piece. I have been exploring CMF; Colour, Material, and Finish and the meanings of colours, giving a deeper meaning to my work.
The coloured yarns that I used all symbolise different elements of the Ukrainian war.
-Blue in the Ukrainian flag represents the blue skies above the endless yellow field. Blue often represents sincerity, stability, inspiration and wisdom.
- I used red and white yarn, when the intertwining looked pink. Red frequently is associated with hatred, anger, aggression and war, it also represents blood. When red is mixed with white it creates pink. Pink represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, compassion and neutrality. It is ironic how peaceful white changes red to compassionate pink.
- Blue and red are a classic combination and when mixed with white you make lilac. I chose lilac because it represents youthfulness, tranquillity and caring.
I created a childlike, naive and thought-provoking art piece. The innocence of the children with no voice of their own, mocking and dismissing voices of misinformation. The juxtaposition of the sculptures in our project is very poignant, sending a thought provoking message to the onlooker.
The stitches are poignant as they represent lives lost. I used a large upholstery needle to stitch the felt together. The needle was sharp, precise and it hurt if I accidentally stabbed my finger. It made me reflect even further about how painful conflict can be.
The missile is a similar size to the missiles used by the Russian army against Ukraine. It kills and destroys everything in its path so don't be deceived by the cuddly exterior.
I designed a, ‘DANGER LIVE AMMO,’ sign to remind the viewer that this is still a missile designed to kill. The ‘DANGER LIVE AMMO,’ sign is in stark contrast to the very soft playful missile.
