Kaye Healey (March 25, 2010)

'This is the land that gave birth to me...'

 

I wanted to make something sculptural that gave a feeling of the earth on which I live in this ancient land of Australia - a continent that has been inhabited by humans much, much, longer than Europe. The red wool perfectly captures the red earth in many parts of Australia and would you believe, the wool comes out of my stash and from Iceland of all places! I also wanted to give the feeling of mountains and forests and different strata of landscape. I love the fact that this fibre object is changeable, like the landscape over thousands of years, and it can be folded and shaped and moulded according to its inherent energy. I feel that it's a very feminine object. When you touch it ... when you feel it... it feels quite primitive yet soft and archetypally 'woman' - perhaps it's the folds, the mysterious recesses. I decided to leave the textile endings and not tie them off or hide them... they are little bits of energy... elements that show the makeup of the object. At first, I was amazed at how it came into being as I purposely chose not to begin with any plan but to simply pick up the hook and fibre and open myself to its creation. When it seemed that it was finished I became instantly attached to it and felt it would be hard to part with it. But now, a day or two later, I can release it out into the world and it will end up wherever it wants to live..... if I had to name it, I think I would say: 'This is the land that gave birth to me...' because when I have left it for any length of time to travel overseas as soon as the plane is over Australia I feel it.... it's as though I am above a vast magnetic field that sings to me, calls me home... I am always very moved at the sight of it,  and the feel of it, because it is so powerful and so mythic.....