Burnt out – the shape of smoke

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Artist: Joanna Wilde

Title: Burnt out – the shape of smoke

Attribution: Burnt out - the shape of smoke, Joanna Wilde, 2021

Year: 2021

Materials: raw silk, silk organza and cotton, silk and metallic yarns

Dimensions: 64x30cm

Image Statement: This piece is made out of a burnt silk prayer shawl - my yoga prayer shawl was accidentally burnt during practice 50 years after the day when I was trapped in a fire in my childhood home - both parents were out. This work explores the shape of the damage wrought by fire in organic material. The six significantly burnt pieces were cut out of the larger shawl, filled in with black translucent silk organza and detailed with silk and metallic threads worked in boro stitch (reclaiming the old and threadbare) to pay soft attention to the details of the harm. The 6 patches are loosely attached with fraying an explicit part of the design.