The Plea for Peace and Interconnection through Public Textile Projects

Abstract

Strategies used in interdisciplinary needlework-textiles in public installation-performance are outlined. My paper discusses the particulars of my Irish Linen Memorial, begun in 2001, Justine Merritt's Ribbon around the Pentagon, 1982-85, and Suzanne Lacy's The Crystal Quilt, 1987. I discuss the sculptural use of textiles in public space and ritual, such as their historically political use as banners, as well as creations symbolic of the interconnectedness of life. More currently, textiles metaphorically illustrate violence and trauma inflicted upon the body, loss of life and the rupture of the fabric of social order which war involves. Cloth can be used as a reminder of displaced persons, the migrant identity and the plea for global stability. My collaboration with choreographer-dancer, Elizabeth Cameron-Dalman, OAM, is an example of international collaboration between Australia and Canada, on the issue of Northern Ireland's sectarian violence, 1969-2000.