Visceral is a new installation which combines soft sculptures and a film.
Since reading A Thousand Plateaus by Deleuze and Guattari I have been exploring the idea of rhizome as well as the ‘haptic’ nature of felt. Wool has been recently the medium to comment on socio-political and environmental issues as it metaphorically represents the chaotic, intense, intertwining nature of globalised world. Although technically relatively simple the method of needle (dry) felting involves many hours of repetitive labour. This process requires lots of patience, control (as felting needles are extra sharp but fragile), care, therefore historically it’s been considered as women’s craft. Binary by nature this process on one hand becomes like voodoo doll poking and helps to release emotions, but eventually it becomes meditative and therapeutic.

Visceral, is a sculptural exploration into materiality, where the tangible and the digital meet. Contrary to our carefully curated social profile, the installation strips off the fake veneer to reveal an inner world full of mixed emotions. The video of zoomed red and natural wool fibre blend imitates an endoscopy as a metaphor for the inner world. The tentacular forms spreading out from the video resemble sensory nerves which help us to perceive the world around us.