Cross-Stitched Poetry, 2016-present

Cross-stitched poetry has been a major aspect of my practice since 2016. I have dabbled in writing poetry since my teens, while my whole life cross-stitched and other textiles embroidered by the women in my family have provided a sense of home wherever I’ve lived. Writing poetry provides a counterbalance to academic writing, and cross-stitching – a very deliberate slowing down – allows for an exploration of text as a tactile and visual medium: text as texture, text as surface. A common theme in several poems is oppression interrogated from the perspective of a gay man, albeit a privileged white gay man. I critique ideals about love and relationship politics imposed by the Judeo-Christian tradition of the countries I have lived in. That tradition limits our expression and experience of love: it makes love small and feeble. Furthermore, cross-stitched poetry has become a potent medium for my work in fashion and sustainability that spans 15 years.