Weaving Together // Tensions & Threads: Weaving as Metaphor and Narrative // Everett Wong
Weaving as a material practice is a form of textile production. At its basis is a framework. It has a beginning, middle, and end. It is comprised of vertical and horizontal strands of thread. The manipulations of how these threads intertwine with each other to form a cohesive piece of material. The warp is a set parameter of vertical threads which dictate the final dimensions. The weft is a continual pass of horizontal threads that are sandwiched in between the warp threads. Through this process of passing horizontal threads over, under and in between these vertical threads, cloth is made.
Our lives as a metaphorical piece of textiles are also shaped in similar ways. In our current vernacular, this can be considered as intersectionality. This process of converging and conflating experiences can be considered the weft in the lives we continue to weave for ourselves as human beings and society. Within our current pulse, our societal fabric is being unpicked and unravelled through processes of cultural reckonings and unlearning. The established warp threads of inequality, restrictive codes, and divisive conducts are now being brought forth in our daily narratives. Currently, there is an aggressive fervour to reconstruct our societal tapestry with two district approaches. On one side, there is a call for revision and reform, all to instill and install a new warp and weft, where the prospects of inclusivity and cooperation are being broached with a complicated yet considered establishment. On another side, there is also a backlash to reconstruct the status quo - where the weft of an unequal, privileged narrative is being hastily shuttled in.
The shuttle is the magic device which turns threads into cloth. Its purpose is to carry the weft yarn in-between the warp. Left and right. Under and over. Up and down. These are the basic guidelines as to how to navigate these collection of threads to form fabric. In the warp threads of daily life we are doing much the same in our daily encounters with the world before us. Intersectionality, in social terms, converges text and dialogue form the basis for communication, which can ultimately lead to discussions, discussions which lead to ideas, ideas that eventually form beliefs. From this point, beliefs become narratives, informing our own sense of identity, belonging and foundations.
The practice of the shuttling of the weft in weaving is an experience filled with experimental anticipation and a dialogue of epiphanies, once the interconnection of horizontal and continual thread is intertwined into the established grid of warp.
In the old expression of “it takes all kinds...”, weaving in both a physical and social fabric is a unique practice in that the overall result is established by the types of threads used in the foundational warp of chosen grid. Shiny and iridescent. Thick and thin. Smooth and rough. In these simplistic terms, the infinite combinations of these physical characteristics of yarn can also be applied to analogy of human beings in all our representations. Ranging from thick and coarse, gossamer and ephemeral, the final result of a woven piece can also represent the textured conditioning of our lives in apt tactility.
Anger. Confusion. Frustration. Tribalism.
It seems these are the dominant threads woven within our daily mainstream consciousness. As a result, our social consciousness is being divided by binaries notions regarding ideologies, practice and even daily banalities. But how attainable and sustainable are these notions in our already fraught social fabric we are currently swathed in? Surely, this type of tension takes energy to engage with and consider, but at what cost?
Tensions. What would weaving be without it? A finite and straightforward concept in the practice of weaving. Too loose, and the grid is a loose collection of strands. Too tight, the integrity of the grid can be snapped, compromised or disintegrate. Philosophically, spiritually and mentally, we are living in a world of high tensions. In the onslaught of civil unrest and weariness towards rising social tensions, the fabric of our communal and societal experiences are at breaking point.
Sequences. Passes. Misses.
Weaving in progress, like all works in progress, are compelling visions which can offer aspiration and dread simultaneously. It is a stark dichotomy of tangible formulations and opened parallels. Like all forms of craft, it is the result of practice, iterations and repetition.
Iteration and repetition are the rudimentary basis for all pattern work in the formation of textiles. Patterns also form in our lives and social consciousness as well. What we choose to shuttle and permeate in our daily rituals is also a practice of pattern formation. Patterns are implicit of iconography, tradition of lore in the realm of weaving. Ultimately this leads to what can be termed as culture. Culture is the accumulation and acculturation of narratives. Narratives are powerful constructs. They are a construction of interconnected ideas and events, where stories begin to be augmented into a form of belief. Through repetition, these beliefs can eventually become lore, legends or truths, based on the matter of societal order.
In our current times of endless trepidations and polarizations, we are currently emerging from and existing in a torrent of vast uncertainties. The themes of isolation and ideological polarizations are a common by-product in our current stasis. Just as mistakes can be unpicked in the act of weaving cloth, our societal tapestry is also being unravelled with scrutiny and reckonings. But is that such a bad thing?
As a way forward and, perhaps, offering a message of potential hope and reprieve - a message of potential optimism, if you will. Let us consider the tale of the weaver girl and the cowherd. Several versions of this story are known within an Asian context, but the base elements are the same. While known more as a tale of romance between two star-crossed lovers, I would like to apply this also as an allegory for all the themes we have addressed so far. The familiar emphasis of this story is of romantic love, separation, and reunited salvation. Another theme however, which can be also gleaned from this story is the notion of empathetic persistence.
In this story where a weaver from the celestial court has fallen love with a mere mortal in the form of a herder and his bull, these star-crossed lovers, forbidden love is met with stages of separation, conflict, and conflated through compassion.
The cowherd and the weaver are ultimately separated for misgivings in their courtship. In some versions, it is due to familial and personal slovenliness as result of lustful indulgences, teaching the importance of duty and responsibility. In other versions it is due to the taboo of the intermingling of the realms – heightening the notions of cast, class and societal norms.
Our protagonists are eventually separated by the great cosmos of stars in the form of our galaxy. Like the great milky way that separates these two entities in a seemingly impossible seal of fate, our current stasis amongst each other also seems unattainable and and unsustainable. Comparable to the flurry of stars that separate the two lovers in this story, we are also in the thick of of our own blinding turmoil - social, political, and environmental. And like these two separated beings, it is also impossible at times to see the bridge between these points of a seemingly disparate situation.
As in the beginning of this discussion, where the mechanics of weaving can be used as a metaphor to engage and address the frailties and intricacies of our societal tensions, the allegory of weaving as a practice can also be balm in offering solace and wisdom through a seemingly disconnected parable of the weaver and the cowherd. In this tale of star-crossed romance, intricacies and subtleties have not changed the fundamental message of the story. Like the celestial weaver, we are all in our own isolated trials waiting for our moment of absolution; absolution from isolation, absolution from grief, absolution from trepidation.
A crucial element to this is all in the key form of compassion. In this story, our star-crossed lovers are eventually bestowed with a grievance of a yearly courtship, aided by the flurry of the compassionate cooperation of the ordinary magpie. One magpie, like one thread on a loom, is not enough to form a connection of sorts. Many magpies, however, can form a bridge, eventually leading to a connection.
But who or what would be the compassionate magpies in our reality? Who or what are the threads in the cloth of societal structures? Well, the reality is that it is simply us. As a changing community and society, the needs for interconnected empathy is in desperate need. In order to maintain this ideology in practice, we must all carry a duty to consider a longer arched vision of consideration for people from all vantages, where the goal of equity and equality can be sought through societal awareness and diligence in the form of compassionate patience.
Everett Wong is an artist and maker with a speciality in textiles and sculpture. His predominate skill set lie within the realms of knitting and garment design, print, painting and soft sculpture. He is a BFA graduate from the University of Victoria in 2011. He majored in painting, costume design and screen-printing, culminating in a multimedia textile based practice. Everett has a bold passion for combining colour and textures in vibrant and unorthodox methodology. Everett is also a recent graduate from the Royal College of Art in London U.K, with a Masters in Fashion Menswear - Knitwear design. He has worked along side prestigious collaborations with costume designer Sandy Powell, academic Emmanuelle Dirix and esteemed fashion designers such as Sarah Dallas, Erika Knight and Sid Bryan. His master's thesis was a suffusion of knitwear, exuberant craftsmanship and a dose of political and cultural satire. He currently resides in Victoria, British Columbia.
This is the second annual Weaving Together series, which brings to the forefront sustainable fibre art practices. Engaging the community to demonstrate accountability to the environment, show a coming-together through a variety of activities: online chats, essays, videos, in person workshops, and hands on community weaving opportunities. For more information on Weaving Together, visit Cool Arts Society.