The “Unforeseen Journey of self discovery' depicts a woman slowly emerging from a cocooned veil of white muslin, head bowed but slowly finding her way into the vibrant, colourful and...
The “Unforeseen Journey of self discovery" depicts a woman slowly emerging from a cocooned veil of white muslin, head bowed but slowly finding her way into the vibrant, colourful and healing space of the natural world. Her veiled tent has provided quiet, peace and protection, it has been the place where she has been able to explore her inner world away from the noise of the world she still has to navigate everyday. In her veiled space she is not hesitant, she is playful, excitable and curious. She is all the things that the world doesn’t allow her to be, because in the world she conforms, keeps her head and does as expected. Bowed by the pressures of patriarchy and racism, she lives a limited life in order to ensure her safety.
The journey to self discovery therefore starts behind the veil. Here the self learning is borne from natural curiosity and slowly blossoms into a desire to know more and then reach for the more. The journey begins in a relative playful innocence and moves through various stages of confrontation, struggle and mastery. Never a linear journey, the emerging woman can find herself tangled in her veil, finding her way almost all the way out only to find that there are parts of herself she cannot untangle from the veil. The panel purposefully has her not fully out of the veil but on her way there. She finds herself in a space where she still needs the protection and security of the veil but also yearns for more of the healing spaces outside of it.
The world she is reaching for is characterised by a different kind of peace, a more serene and deeper stillness, a place where she can really hear herself. It is a place for meditation, spiritual ritual and self loving prayer and supplication. In this space she is able to commune with those that came before her: she will learn and absorb the teachings of her beloved ancestors, her foremothers who carry with them the wisdom of her whole family tree.
She is moving out of the whimsical and into the more solid. In her forest of dreams she is learning to see herself as a self, individuated and independent. As she emerges, she is opening up and revealing the deeper layer of herself. Here she can do more than explore curiously; she can engage with the different versions of self that reveal themselves and begin to move towards the acceptance of her full humanity because she is now empowered by this new/old and solid knowledge.
I created this panel at a time when I was grappling with my own understanding of myself. I was seeking out a voice and a style of my own. My journey of discovery was deeply rooted in my craft, as this was the medium with which I was revealing myself to, and in the world.
My art is both my contribution to the world and the medium of my journey through it. This embroidery panel is thus the story of searching for myself and then finding a solid and clear voice.
Thematically the panel is a continuation of the series “women of the veil” where I explore the cultural significance of the practice of veiling women in several religious and ethnic groups. Understanding fully that the common, and not necessarily incorrect, discourse around “the veil’ as a tool of patriarchal subjugation of women. In the series, I attempt to go beyond this understanding and explore the ways in which the veil can be empowering. I have used the veil to depict stillness, quiet spaces, peace and protection for women.
Devil's in the Detail, Kristin Hjellegjerde, London, Wandsworth, 8 December - 16 January 2021 Soulscapes, Dulwich Picture Gallery, UK, 14 February - 2 June 2024
