Charlotte Wood

Exploring the polarity between what archives choose to show and what remains hidden, through memory, loss, and the fragility of preservation. Exploring her own lineage as a character-based embroidery artist captivated by world building, led her to reintroduce her character the Man. A character with a poetic yet relatable sadness. A fragile figure burdened by his inability to let go, whilst his life crumbles around him.

Fascinated by how objects and keepsakes hold intangible links to memory, Charlotte began exploring the Man’s own memories through embroidery. The resulting work, Man on Chair, is a three-dimensional fabric sculpture depicting the character morphing into the chair beneath him. His belly rolls cascade into cushions, emulating the softness of a sofa and symbolising the merging of self and surroundings.

The piece was made predominantly using digital embroidery, with Cornelly machine and hand embellishments added afterwards to enhance and complement the digital embroidery. A complex layering of stitches artificially aged and destroyed are layered over distressed fabric. Cut out, frayed, and appliquéd onto the surface to build rich, 3D textures. Bringing the Man's internal world to the skin's surface. Blurring boundaries between destruction and creation.

Materials: Digitally embroidery using a variety of thread types. Cornely free-machine embroidery in moss and chain stitch. Hand stitched string beading using bugle, seed, pearl effect and glass beads. Fabric filled with wadding. Appliqué and hand fraying fabrics.