31/07/2026
celebrate their 5-year anniversary, the brief was simple: create a piece that everyone attending the celebration could contribute to.
This piece began life as a Storycloth.
At the anniversary celebration, each person chose pre-cut denim rectangles and triangles to represent their home within the SafeHaven community, placing them onto a large denim canvas. Together, we also created the Knot of Connection, with around 35 people tying knots that would eventually become the boundary of the work. From there…the artwork had ideas of its own.
The design evolved several times. Every change felt right at the time and each one taught me something about what the piece was trying to become.
Then came this weekend. I finally hung the work….and I hated it.
At almost 5kg, I’d convinced myself it needed a strong internal skeleton to stop it from flopping. I’d spent days building one.
The problem?
The artwork is denim. Soft….Worn….Relaxed.
The rigid frame made it stand to attention. Meanwhile the textile was full of stitches, pockets, houses, hidden messages and movement. The two were competing with each other. It was like putting a skateboarder in a three-piece suit. Technically correct BUT completely wrong.
After sitting with it (and more than a few moments of despair), I realised I’d been solving the wrong problem. The answer had been there the whole time…The Knot of Connection.
Instead of simply framing the work, the cord could gently tension the edges, allowing the textile to hang naturally while preventing it from flopping. The very thing that symbolised connection became the thing that physically held the artwork together.
Which meant…that the skeleton had to come out. Days and days of work were carefully dismantled. Oddly, I wasn’t devastated.
Because sometimes making isn’t about getting it right the first time. It’s about listening when the work tells you it’s heading in the wrong direction. In the end, I think this piece taught me exactly what it’s about.
Connection doesn’t just surround us. It holds us. This is more than a textile. It is more than an artwork. It is a vessel
