Material: wool thread, wire
Year of production: 2016
Photo: Agata Skwarczyńska
Description:
The piece is inspired by German fairy tale Rapunzel in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, although Rapunzel’s story has some striking similarities to the 10th-century Persian tale of Rudāba and the XVII century tale of Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile. In each case a young girl is locked in a tower and offers to let down her extremely long hair so that her lover can climb up and reach the tower. One day while climbing, the evil witch of the story cuts off the hair of Razpunzel and the prince falls down. The beauty of women’s hair, which becomes a threat, is a motive presented also in the figure of Medusa, who has snakes instead of hair.
The Rapunzel tapestry is made out of cotton threats, a material that reminds of women’s hair. The gradation of colour also plays an important role in this piece. White color becomes grey. Plait becomes upbraid. These actions refer to the fact that beauty can become a threat.
The piece of art created during an artistic residency in Craft Village, New Delhi, India.Technique consists of a traditional ply-split braiding with cotton threads combined with an original method of netting wires and self-making cords. Size: 40 x 160 cm