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Friday 1 March 2019

Nan

   I had never heard of Shamia Hassani and I liked her work when I first discovered it. However, I could not find anything that inspired me to make a piece of my own; her images are simple with a powerful message, and I did not feel I could use either her images or message as they are not mine.  I kept looking at her work and the only thing that I felt I could use was the lace-like stencilled backgrounds that appear in some of her work, but didn't know what I could put in the foreground. By the beginning of February I was beginning to think I was completely blocked. I looked through photographs of her work again and came across one that was in an exhibition in Kabul, that I had overlooked. I like the way in which the stencilled background becomes a part of the foreground of the clothing,  and the outlines of the figures.




  I go to a german conversation group here in Paris, and one of the articles that we read and discussed recently was about the memories of the two authors had about their grandmothers. This started me thinking about Nan, my paternal grandmother, who lived just round the corner from us and who was very important to me when I was growing up. When I was in England last summer, my aunt showed me all the photos that came from Nan's and gave me a duplicate of one of them, as I had no photos of her. It was taken some time in the fifties in Meadow Mill, one of the many cotton mills on Stockport, none of which remain. I remember her telling me about working in the mill, and also the hat factory, although unfortunately I cannot remember any of the details.



   I decided to use the image of Nan in silhouette and to quilt the details. I had a stencilled background sitting in my stash: I had tried out some new spray fabric paint, using one of those mats that you use in the sink as the stencil. I traced the photo and enlarged it, making a positive and a negative stencil, which I used with some Markal Paintstik.




   At first I thought to use just the one figure and include something else with it, but couldn't think of anything, so decided to do a positive and negative stencil. I think it would have been better suited to a rectangular format rather than  a square one as the balance is not quite right, but I am pleased with the  image and all the memories it brought back of Nan.

11 comments:

  1. what a lovely personal touch to put your grandmother in. I like the figure on the left best, and yes, a single one with and different format would work well.

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  2. What a super homage to your Nan. I'm sure she would have been thrilled and proud of your piece. A great interpretation of the style of some of Shamsia's work. Inspired use of tools and techniques. Hilary

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  3. Excellent interpretation combined with your personal history. Bravo!

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  4. This is a very effective interpretation Jinnie and I love the personal perspective that you've used as the basis of this piece.

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  5. What a wonderful tribute. Love what you have done. A great piece.

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  6. You have captured the essence of the artist's work but have made it your own. I love the stencilled background coming forward into the figures. A great tribute to your Nan.

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  7. Jinnie, I love your piece and I am really pleased that at the end of it all, despite your 'block' you have made a piece you possibly never would have otherwise. For me these challenges are a spirngboard - not necessarily an exercise to come up with something in the same style as...........
    I am sure you love your new piece about your beloved Nan - it is fabulous and a great tribute to her.

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  8. The stencilling of the background is very effective . I enjoyed seeing the quilted details on the figures and in the background which include the tools of her job . Sad that in this modern day these industries have vanished from your part of the world . Your Nan looks so happy doing her job. Rosemary

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  9. I love how you included the grandmother into this - it must be a special piece for you now!

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  10. People who leave anonymous comments should know their comments are deleted and not answered for security reasons. If you want a reply you should use your proper email address. Thank you. Hilary

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