Sharon Peoples

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Over Easter I thought a lot about covet, particularly one night while I laid wide awake. I was thinking about things that I had coveted and had 'stolen' from family members. Usually this means borrowing with the intention of never giving back. I remembered I had a shawl that belonged to my sister, Elizabeth. She died of mesothelioma about seven or eight years ago.

I loved this exotic shawl, made of brown net and had very thin metal pieces bent around the fibres, almost like very fat staples. I don't remember the actual point of me stealing it, but I know I took it. 

I used the shawl in a class on the politics of dress. Students had to write what is called a 'significance report'. Each object in a museum needs to have one of these for each object. Students as part of their internships often have to write these as there is generally  a backlog as you can imagine. I brought in this shawl in for learning how to write these reports, using it for learning how to describe clothing and textiles in detail. By sheer co-incidence one student in the class had just seen a similar shawl that the NGA had purchased. It was a 1920s shawl made in Egypt. Subsequently some say they were made for the tourist trade, others say it was for women who had ravelled to Mecca.

The netting is a similar pattern to the way I machine embroider the lace I make. I have been making textiles with metal threads. I spent the Easter bringing the idea of the stolen textile, with work I have been trying to make about my sister's death. I'm not sure quite where this is going but it is a start. It was good to be doing sketches and not have access to a sewing machine. Just forcing myself to keep drawing and painting. Today I will start on the machine.

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015

Sharon Peoples, Covet Shawl sketches, 2015