POETRY
Not waving but drowning - Stevie Smith
For the one week poetry project we were placed in pairs and given a poem to create a fashion or textiles based piece.
Our poem was 'Not waving but drowning' by Stevie Smith. The poem had reference to looking 'fine' on the surface but being unhappy beneath the surface.
For the piece we created a hanging with reference to the idea of appearing to be organised on the surface through straight and linear lines that become more fragmented the further down you look - reflecting the idea of 'drowning' under the surface.
I wanted to incorporate the literal image produced through the line 'I was much too far out my whole life and not waving but drowning', depicting a hand out of water - I explored creating a hand, but then considered making them more subtle - exploring free machine embroidery and a continuos line pattern.
We selected dark blues and greys for the hanging as they best reflect the depression suggested within the poem, however used small lines of bright, sunshine yellow to give the idea of hope and possibility of happiness within the darkness - as suggested in the line 'He always loved larking'.
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