Artist: Joanna Rogers
Title: Horror Vacuii
Attribution: Horror Vacuii. 2023. Joanna Rogers
Year: 2023
Materials: Buttons hand sewn onto felt
Dimensions: 72" x 36"
Image Statement: This piece is styled after a medieval cope. It tells the stories of our mothers' and grandmothers' button boxes, of the button making industry in Birmingham, England (where my parents grew up), and of the way the invention of clothing revolutionized clothing. The design was inspired both by microscopic images of viruses and by images of far away galaxies. The title alludes to the lack of empty space in medieval tapestries where every little gap was filled by flowers.