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Pattern of the World

Drawing
2000 (made)
Artist/Maker
Stockwell, Susan (artist)
Place of origin
Great Britain (made)

In this drawing Stockwell has used dressmaking patterns, pinned together, and stained with tea and coffee, to create a fragile map of the world. She has used these materials to allude to Britain's colonial legacy and to refer to the way in which the trade in commodities - tea, coffee, and textiles, but also human labour - has helped to shape the political and economic relations of today's world.

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view Mapping the imagination Maps are simplified schematic diagrams that employ a universal visual language through which we codify and comprehend our world. We all use maps in our daily lives as sources of information about places, routes, networks, and boundaries. They offer us the means of describing and understand...

Object details

Categories
Drawings
Maps
Object type
Drawing
TitlePattern of the World (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Dressmaking pattern papers stained with tea and coffee; pins
Brief description
'Pattern of the World', a map of the world drawn in washes of tea and coffee on dressmaking pattern tissues, pinned together, Susan Stockwell; Great Britain, 2000
Physical description
A map of the world drawn in washes of tea and coffee on a support of dressmaking pattern papers, pinned together in three separate pieces.
Dimensions
  • When displayed height: 210cm
  • When displayed width: 330cm
Gallery label
(2007)
Using dressmaking patterns stained with tea and coffee, Stockwell has pieced together a fragile map which alludes to Britain's colonial legacy, and the ways in which the trade in commodities - tea, coffee, textiles, human labour - has helped to shape the political and economic relations of today's world.
Subject depicted
Maps
Summary
In this drawing Stockwell has used dressmaking patterns, pinned together, and stained with tea and coffee, to create a fragile map of the world. She has used these materials to allude to Britain's colonial legacy and to refer to the way in which the trade in commodities - tea, coffee, and textiles, but also human labour - has helped to shape the political and economic relations of today's world.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.1095-2002

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Record createdApril 28, 2003
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O80231/pattern-of-the-world-drawing-stockwell-susan/
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