The most frequently
reoccurring thought which arose or haunted me throughout the past year was the
most complex – namely, the reason for reproductions. I have been mulling over
it for months, trying to come up with an explanation of why I make reproductions.
Not an apology but a concise reason beyond the unknown force which compels me
to do it. I have been asked, “Why?” over and over again for years, usually by
someone with a puzzled expression on his or her face, and usually after I have
received compliments on my work, which puzzles me as to why I am being asked
that question. I addressed this issue in a previous post on this blog but that
was written after a long tiring weekend of presentations and I was not in the
best of moods. (http://historyknits.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-did-you-knit-that-strange-thing.html)
So why do I practice a
type of reverse-material culture, making reproductions for no particular reason
or whether or not they are to be worn or sold or used in demonstrations? First
of all, intellectual curiosity. History has been my passion since I was very
young and I view almost everything through its eyes. I work in its field, and
as I enjoy books, music, dance, art, architecture, clothing, needlework and old
films, I do so through their relation to history as much as their own virtues.
Another reason is that I happen to be good at research and will sometimes spend
years in pursuit of an object in terms of images, descriptions, working out its
pattern, trying out potential materials or locating surviving examples, should
I be so lucky. Then there is artistic curiosity. I have a talent for handwork,
and I think the need to create with materials, yarns, threads is an innate one
just as writers need to write, artists to paint, scientists to experiment, etc.
By attempting to recreate something from the past, combining all of these
reasons, and even with substituted materials, I also feel as though I am
stealing a glimpse through a curtain into another time and, perhaps, holding,
not a real thing but a shadow of that time in my hands, made by me. The entire
process, from research to recreation, no matter how lengthy, frustrating or
physically painful, is ultimately enjoyable and richly rewarding, on so many
levels, in most of its results.
Can all of that be so very
strange?
5 comments:
Not so very strange and thank you for sharing this. As a lover of history myself, it's nice to be able to "touch" times and places that we can only read about. Sometimes a museum doesn't quite do the job of letting us experience another time and place, and recreating pieces salves that curiosity. A type of time machine if you will.
You are very welcome.
Thanks for the other ideas, too.
Historic interest makes sense to me. I do very little actual historic knitting but when I do, it's usually because I want to see something in person and I can't. Sometimes the museum is far away, or the instructions exist but without extant examples or good pictures. Sometimes I just want to know how to make it work.
I just love the idea of preserving a piece of cultural heritage. Living in a plastic world leaves nothing tactile to explore.
I certainly agree with that!
Post a Comment