virus, 2023

selected

At first glance, Virus might seem closely tied to the 21st century, primarily evoking thoughts of Covid-19 and the pandemic. However, upon closer examination, one discovers a poignant narrative intricately hand stitched with green silk threads onto cloth, featuring the names and brief histories of individuals in the medical profession, including doctors, nurses, chemists, and even dentists, hailing from diverse countries. These individuals were tragically taken from us, their lives cut short through acts of murder or, in some heart-wrenching instances, by their own hands during the Holocaust. Contemplating their potential, one can't help but wonder about the transformative impact they might have had on the world. How many lives could they have touched and saved? What extraordinary achievements could they have realised in their own journeys?

Antisemitism, a pervasive and insidious force, operates much like a virus. It lies dormant, only to resurface with its malevolent visage, inflicting pain, sorrow, and, in its most heinous manifestations, even death upon Jewish people.

It turned out that the authorities made a sudden exception for Jewish physicians, bowing to pressure from the Slovak public, especially in rural areas, who overnight found that they had no medical care. Tiso had not reckoned with the fact that, though Jews made up only a small portion of Slovakia’s population, they accounted for a big share of the country’s doctors. The president reprieved those Jewish medics who had not already been deported… The Escape Artist, The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World, author Jonathan Freedland

To what extent can human beings tolerate differences, and what are the boundaries they might push when fuelled by hatred and prejudice? What are the limits that innocent people can withstand when put under duress?

Measurement: 20cm x 18cm x 4cm

Process: Hand stitch

Materials: Textile, green silk thread, cotton binding

Exhibited in:

Tolerance Limit, VIII International Triennial of Textile Arts 2024, Szombathely Gallery, Hungary (21 June - 31 August 2024)

COMMENTS

  • Heartfelt, poignant, important work

  • So powerful! And so beautifully embroidered

  • As always the size is inversely proportionate to the message

  • Amazingly beautiful and delicate work coming from such an unforgivably brutal source

  • A touching idea for a moving tribute

  • Beautiful, delicate work, monochrome and contained, evoking the all encompassing horror of the past we thought was receding into safe historical distance. Your work is extraordinary

  • Breathtaking in so many, many ways

  • Amazing work that should never be forgotten

  • It is on the rise here, USA, along with homophobia, transphobia, and racism, but by far the biggest rise has been in antisemitism. I thank you for work that does not allow this to be forgotten or ignored

  • Such beautiful work, delicate, poignant, painstaking