Articles - 31 October 2008

Wrapped: Liz Williamson's practice

It is a cold and blustery morning. My body thinks that I am up too early. The chill air seeps through the slightest gap, assailing my vulnerable flesh. I hate winter. I sigh and rearrange my lengthy wrap to cover the latest spaces the wind has found. Its folds provide warmth and comfort, and the voluminous length almost makes me feel like I am still in bed. Almost.

Pale darn 1, 2003
Wool, silk, cotton
50x210x18cm
Photographer: Ian Hobbs

My hands register the tactility of the wool fabric as I wind and tuck it around me: my eyes take in the soft creaminess and textured self-stripe weave. One stripe straight weave, the other puckered where wools with different shrinkage rates have been woven side-by-side. It offers me warmth and protection from the elements, and is visually interesting as well. I smile as I look at it. This wrap holds many memories for me. It was given to me when my son was born. He was a winter baby, and the wrap was long enough to wind around both of us, keeping us warm. It is one of Liz Williamson's less complex works, however, nonetheless evocative.

Strands of memory and protection are interwoven throughout Liz Williamson's practice. Over the years she has explored such themes as emerge from the close connection between clothing and the body. The wrap has been a constant form for her, one that she returns to time and again, experimenting with different weave structures while exploring visual and conceptual territory.

The subtle colour stripe in her work from the Undulations (2000) series, for example, sets up a sense of rhythm that exists almost beyond perception, so close are the two colours in tone. Their proximity creates a gentle background hum. It operates like a pulse under the surface of the skin, pattering away even though we are not directly aware of it: thus the stripes link the work libidinally to the rhythms of the body.

Undulations, 2000
Wool blend, nylon monofilament
90x240cm
Photographed by Ian Hobbs on Sydney harbour

The understated bands are offset by the introduction of nylon monofilament into the weave structure of the work: when washed this rucks and protrudes as the yarn around it shrinks, giving the wrap a folded and complex surface. The cloth is reminiscent of the surface of the skin close-up; an apt analogy considering that this piece is meant to be worn next to it. Skin, like cloth, is subject to wear, the wrinkles and scars of its surface are memory etched physically onto the surface of the body. Williamson's Undulations suggests these associations.

Off the body this work lies patiently. Visually complex and seductive, it begs to be placed on the body it awaits. Williamson's wraps, beautiful and interesting, are made to be worn, they come alive when placed on the body, eloquently articulating the protective connection between cloth and flesh.

The concept of wear is fundamental to her work, and while her wraps are literally made to be worn, her Darned series explores this area metaphorically. Darning repairs areas of garments that have been damaged through use, preserving them. As such, they present a record of an item of clothing having been worn, of its bodily occupation. Like the wraps Williamson's Darned works express the intimate connection between our bodies and our clothing.

Floral
Handwoven Jacquard textile
Photographer: Ian Hobbs

Her Floral, for example, uses digital jacquard technology to represent a handkerchief darned by Williamson's mother. The work was created by scanning the handkerchief, then digitally manipulating the resulting image, before weaving it on a loom using the Jacquard process. Floral presents a posy of flowers as might be found on an archetypical hanky, but mutes the jolly yellow and green shades into monochromatic blue. It is like looking at an old black and white photograph, it holds the same awareness of the passage of time, and a similar sense of melancholy. Joan M. Williamson's original darns are evocatively revealed in the work through subtle emphasis. Darns, like scars, represent a place of healing, where damage is covered over. While good darns are meant to be invisible, they act like scars on the body, subtly revealing history and evoking memory. Like scars, darns are protective, allowing a garment to be worn once more due to necessity or favour.

Williamson's more recent work explores ideas of recollection and protection in yet other ways. Her Loop series are neckpieces. A hybrid between a wrap and jewellery, they play on ideas of shelter and memory on a number of levels. Off the body their stiff tubular forms appear like carapaces, the husks leftover after some creature has departed. As closed objects they invite enquiry, a desire to know what is contained within. This visual seduction is further enhanced by the complexity of the surfaces: the interplay between sheer, soft, stiff, matt and shiny; the apertures in ends and faces; loops and puckers, all engage.

On the body the works acquire a different meaning. Their powerful striking forms are suggestive of bandoliers, perhaps reflecting the more overt security needed in these complex times. ¹

Loop series, 2008
Cotton, rayon, silk, leather
Various sizes
Photographer: Ian Hobbs

Where Williamson's wraps offer protection that suggests warmth, her Loop series make an overtly powerful statement. Yet the combination of materials used prevents them from being purely aggressive. Stiffer areas of woven leather are offset by softer ones of yarn, and the fringing around the ends is silky and hair-like. The strength of these pieces thus emerge from the tension created through the use of materials, and the temptation generated by their closed forms.

While her practice has taken many directions over the years, a constant for Williamson has been the exploration of structures that suggest wear, that explore the ongoing relationship between textiles and the body. What we wear brings us into almost constant close connection with fabric. Clothing warms and protects us from the environment around, it is as familiar as skin. How we dress also reflects our identity, thus evoking both culture and memory. Whether through her wraps, her Darned works, or her most recent Loop series this is what lies at the heart of Liz Williamson's practice, bringing meaning and depth to her work.

Clare Bond
October, 2008

Clare Bond is an artist, art educator and writer. She lectures in the School of Art History and Art Education at UNSW College of Fine Arts and is currently working towards a Masters in Visual Arts at Sydney University's Sydney College of the Arts.

Footnote

1. Discussed with Liz Williamson 31 October, 2008. Our conversation touched on a militaristic reading of the works by Ian Hobbs.