A stitch in time
EC Davies
13 April – 18 May 2013
EC Davies, ‘A stitch in time’, (wall) Warrior Love Angels 2D, 2012, fabric remnants, 54x48cm, (floor) Warrior Love Angels 3D, 2013, pillowcases, fabric, 54x68cm, installation view. Photo: Colin Davison
EC Davies, ‘A stitch in time’, seven wall hangings, hand dyed woollen blankets, curtains, each 189x146cm, installation view. Photo: Colin Davison
In ‘A stitch in time’, EC Davies shows a selection of new works including video, animation, print, photographs and sewn objects. Davies works with images of herself and found objects that reflect and communicate aspects of her thought processes through the act of making.
Davies creates a selection of characters using her self as the prototype, each of whom performs different functions within an imaginary space. The characters have specific roles within her practice. They can be obsessive in their pursuits, they hoard found objects: fabric remnants, fortune cookies and voice recordings from films, and transform them into works of art. Her characters come from another realm, they follow no fashion rules, but are highly stylised. They wear an array of playfully designed balaclavas and dresses. Davies documents these characters in a mock anthropological fashion, filming them, naming them and characterising them.
EC Davies, Warrior Love Angel 2D (No 4), 2012, fabric remnants, 54x48cm. Photo: Colin Davison
EC Davies, Warrior Love Angel 2D (No 14), 2012, fabric remnants, 54x48cm. Photo: Colin Davison
EC Davies, Warrior Love Angel 3D (No 14), 2012-13, pillowcase, fabric, 54x68cm. Photo: Colin Davison
EC Davies, Warrior Love Angel 3D (No 14), 2012-13, pillowcase, fabric, 54x68cm. Photo: Colin Davison
In the video works, The Cleaner, Cookie (2012) and Wrap Your Head in Tape (2011), Davies performs set ritualistic tasks that reflect on mundane, everyday activities. Within the personal world Davies creates, these activities are extrapolated to the point of absurdity.
In her series of large wall hangings, Davies has incorporated the texts taken from fortune cookies together with the dates they were opened. These words of wisdom and vague prophecies are stitched together from hand-dyed woollen blankets. For Davies, the labour intensive process of crafting these hangings stands in contrast to the apparently throwaway bon mots.
In the two series Warrior Love Angels 2D and Warrior Love Angels 3D (2012), Davies meticulously unpicks old pillowcases and rebuilds them. She adds silhouettes of her own head, each obscured by a fabric cross, meditating on her obsessions with repetition, pattern and memory.
The exploration of both the hidden and revealed are continued in the two photographic series, Shapeshifter Head Angels and One size fits all (2013). Davies covers her head with different balaclavas, mesmerising and drawing the viewer in but also, paradoxically, maintaining a barrier between us and Davies’ fabricated world.
EC Davies, Nobody is digging off your water, 2013, hand dyed woollen blankets, curtains, 189x146cm. Photo: Colin Davison
EC Davies, Your honesty will be appreciated, 2013, hand dyed woollen blankets, curtains, 189x146cm. Photo: Colin Davison
‘A stitch in time’ explores universal themes of love and loss – sometimes playful, celebrating life; sometimes melancholic, echoing feelings of loss and the desire to claw back what once was.
In the run up to The Late Shows 2013, EC Davies creates two audience participation events in Vane on Saturday 20 April and Saturday 4 May. Participants are photographed individually wearing a balaclava and holding a written statement, such as ‘love me’, ‘hear me’, etc.
EC Davies, Wallflower Prison Angel 04/Speedwell, 2012-13, digital print on Somerset Enhanced Velvet paper, 17.5x12cm
EC Davies, Wallflower Prison Angel 18/Clover, 2012-13, digital print on Somerset Enhanced Velvet paper, 17.5x12cm
The Late Shows marks the international event ‘Museums at Night’, which takes place across Europe. The Late Shows is managed by Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums.
The Late Shows 2013
Saturday 18 May
As Vane’s presentation for The Late Shows, EC Davies invites audience members to take part in an art experience: in ‘Take time out for yourself’ visitors choose from a selection of love-heart decorated balaclavas, chalk the words ‘I love you’ on a card, and are photographed by the artist. The anonymous photos are shared online as part of the ongoing ‘Donthinklove’ series.
Take a video tour of the exhibition
Share this page