Yippee! I finally got off dead center and entered something in a juried show. I’ve been on hiatus for over a year because of the surgery on my shoulder in 2012. I think entering shows may be a little like riding a horse or a bike and you have to get back on your game as quickly as you can after you fall off. Otherwise you get all sorts of self doubt and can find reasons to stay out of the game. The only thing I entered during that time was photography in the Houston show, Eye of the Quilter.
I’m showing you a close up of Purification 2, one of my series on the outlawed practice of Sati. Purification 1 is currently traveling with the SAQA exhibit Beyond Comfort. The gray pillar with red hand prints represents the Sati gate. The black background is burned and has both with machine and hand quilting and embroidered sparks of fire.
The triangles of burned saris represent the widows thrown on the fire. The purpose of using triangles pointing up is that in the Hindu religion, the triangle (trikona) is the symbol of Shakti which literally means feminine energy. When it points up it symbolizes spiritual aspiration and the element of fire which is always oriented upwards.
So this piece will be at Sacred Threads in July in Washington, D.C. in the grief category. There will be some wonderful pieces there and I’m sorry that I won’t be able to attend in person.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 