An embroidery project started in 2009 has finally been finished after travelling the world, and is now touring museums. This week it's in the Swansea Maritime and Industrial Museum.
I originally went to the museum to see if a curator could tell me what this was.
I found it on the beach last week and was puzzled. I could snap it and it's almost squeezable, but also hard. Various ideas put forward suggest some sort of slag, either coal, iron or copper. As Swansea Valley at its industrial peak was a world centre for copper smelting any of these is possible. Sadly the curators were not in work and no-one knew when they would be so I shall have to try again. But I got to see the dress.
When I went in the woman at the desk pointed out the one way system that I was to follow. It took me a while but I reached the dress; the problems started when I tried to leave.
They have yellow arrows on the floor telling you which way to go. I can only assume I missed some as I went round the same room three times. In the end I gave up and, with a nervous tummy in case someone shouted at me, left by a door that said No Exit.
Meanwhile Tamsin gave me this brilliant badge.
P.S. I didn't get shouted at.
9 comments:
Nice badge and gorgeous dress. How odd about the arrows and no way out. Reminds me of that old song "did he ever return, no he never returned, and his fate is still unlearned. He may ride forever neath the streets of London, he's the man who never returned." I am glad you broke the rules and escaped.
That embroidery is wonderful, thank you for showingus.
The funny stuff you found on the beach might be roofing tar. It is hard, breakable, and can be bent a bit.
Oh, that Red Dress Project is marvelous! I had not heard of it before, so thanks for the explanation and photos -- especially the panel that must have come from Canadian embroiderers with the maple leaf, indigenous shield and inukshuks! In Canada, red dresses are a very specific symbol used to represent and memorialize the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls movement. There is a Red Dress Day during which red dresses are worn by supporters and displayed in public areas.
I am assuming that “ageing” is the UK version of spelling the word in the US that is “aging”. I thought I had know the variations between UK spellings and US spellings, but this one was new for me. Very odd and interesting I had not run across this spelling previously (at least to my knowledge).
PipeTobacco
“Know” was meant to be “known” in the above.
PipeTobacco
oh WOW, the dress is awesome, stunning, beautiful. Do you know if it will be touring the UK? You're not alone in breaking the rules, I've been confused about one way systems before!
Polly, it's in the London Textile and Fashion Museum for April. Then it's off round the world again.
Debra, it's in Vancouver in 2024. And what a great way to remember people by wearing a red dress.
Boud, Vermont and Pittsburgh in 2023!
https://reddressembroidery.com/EXHIBITIONS-PRESS
That dress is amazing - not only the art work but the entire concept.
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