Memoriam
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Walker, Michele, born 1947 (designer and maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Quilted wire wool and transparent plastic, screen printed plastic
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Image unavailable
'Memoriam' is the last quilt in a body of work which draws inspiration from the patterns and ethos of traditional quilt making, and reflects on the terrifying fragmentation of identity that occurs with memory loss. This work was a response to the artist's mother's suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The knotted border evokes the gesture of twisting hair while lost in thought. Instead of cotton or wool, 'Memoriam' is wadded with wire, deliberately undermining the quilt's traditional associations with safety and comfort.
In the study for 'Memoriam', Walker included a screen printed image of her mother's wedding veil, looped and stitched to reference the universal remembrance ribbons which started with AIDS awareness. Juxtaposed with 'Memoriam', the study is a poignant reminder of both the hopes and fears of a young bride at the start of her married life.
Michele Walker creates multi-layered quilts that unite personal testimony with social commentary. She was one of a small group of contemporary artists who helped to revive an interest in British quilt making in the 1970s and 1980s. Her interest in the tradition includes not only techniques, but also a fascination with the often unknown women who produced quilts; objects which are on the whole unsigned, undated and undocumented, but often retain within them a fading collective or personal memory.
Physical description
Pieced transparent plastic in a 'crazy' design, wadded with steel wire wool. Edged with twisted steel wire wool. Quilted with synthetic thread in the pattern of the artist's own skin. Silk screen of lace wedding veil printed on plastic stitched in the centre in the shape of a memorial ribbon.
Place of Origin
Brighton, England (made)
Date
2002 (made)
Artist/maker
Walker, Michele, born 1947 (designer and maker)
Materials and Techniques
Quilted wire wool and transparent plastic, screen printed plastic
Dimensions
Height: 62.5 cm, Width: 74.5 cm, Depth: 2 cm, Weight: 5.72 kg
Descriptive line
Study for 'Memoriam', transparent plastic and steel wire wool, silk screen of lace wedding veil printed on plastic, designed and made by Michele Walker, British, 2002
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Sue Prichard, 'Negotiating space: fabric and the feminine 1945-2010', in Sue Prichard (ed.), Quilts 1700-2010 (London: V&A, 2010) p.142
Sue Prichard, 'Keepsakes of identity - Michele Walker: Memoriam' V&A Online Journal 1 (Autumn 2008)
Exhibition History
Quilts 1700-2010 (Victoria and Albert Museum 20/03/2010-04/07/2010)
Labels and date
Memoriam
Michele Walker (born 1947), Brighton
2002
Walker reflects on the terrifying fragmentation of personal identity that occurs with memory loss. This work was a response to her mother's suffering from Alzheimer's disease. The knotted border evokes the gesture of twisting hair, while the plastic - in a pattern based on the artist's own skin - is pieced using the traditional 'crazy' patchwork design. Instead of cotton or wool, Memoriam is wadded with wire, deliberately undermining the quilt's traditional associations with safety and comfort.
Plastic and steel
V&A: T.6:1, 2-2009 [20th March 2010]
Materials
Plastic; Steel wool
Techniques
Quilted
Categories
Textiles
Production Type
Artist's proof
Collection code
T&F
