Fold / Series: Held Together
$495.00
Artist: Tanya Smith
Medium: Hand-dyed reclaimed cotton muslin, hand stitching
Artist Statement:
I have always been more interested in what stays than what goes. In Fold, the material has been systematically pulled apart, thread by thread, until it was barely holding together. From that state of near-destruction, it was brought back, gathered and anchored tightly along a single, dark hand-stitched line. The physical fold is what remains after that strain. That process is my definition of place. It is not a fixed location, but the accumulation of evidence. The land shows what has crossed it, a body shows where it has been, and the mind is no different. This piece explores the theme of being “Out of Place” by looking at the residue of displacement. Proving that even when a landscape, body, or mind is dismantled, the mark of what brought it back together becomes the new foundation.
Artist Biography:
I find beauty in what most people discard. Reclaimed fabric, paper, and found materials are things that carry the distinct evidence of a previous life. Having spent over a decade working professionally as a photographer, my eye has always been drawn to the structural history of a space. It was the crumbling wall behind a subject, the peeling paint, or the worn edges that told the real story. That fundamental curiosity has not changed. I have simply transitioned from documenting that wear to manipulating it physically. Today, my practice is intentionally slow and tactile. Working with reclaimed textiles, I hand dye, hand stitch, and allow the material to guide the process. The rust, the fray, and the soft collapse of something used and set aside are not defects to work around. They are the work itself. I live and work in Niagara, Ontario, near the shores of Lake Erie, where the grit, debris, and weathered textures of the local beaches constantly inform the physical boundaries of my studio practice.
