Rumpelstiltskin, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
2019
This large-scale kenetic installation comments on the international textile trade and fast fashion. Sewing machines in a range of sizes, like boats, navigate an overwhelming sea of fabric and provoke us to think about the global impact of fast fashion. Inspired by fairy tales and their roles as metaphors for humanity, the transformation in the Rumpelstiltskin story, of spinning straw into gold is utilized as a metaphor for change, mass production, and consumerism. Here, gold, with its associations of greed and money, is locked into a never-ending exchange.
Rumpelstiltskin was made with hundreds of meters of cloth feeding through many sewing machines. Some of the machines work by themselves, intermittently on sensors and timers, surprising the viewers and creating a ghostly atmosphere. The installation included intermittent performances where Stockwell, dressed in one of the blue work shirts that feed through the machines, stitched the blue material alongside other machines, sewing on their own.
Rumpelstiltskin was generously supported by an Arts Council of England (ACE) Research Grant. It was part of the residency program and exhibition Exchange at Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK, 2019.
Exhibitions:
Exchange Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth 2019
Group exhibition and residency with Monika, Monica Bonomo & Rhiannon Armstrong.
Publications:
Elephant Magazine The British Artist Tackling the Long Dark Shadow of Colonialism by Paul Carey-Kent 2019.
