Liliane

My exhibition draws on personal experience to understand my sense of place in the world. Through my art making, I have come to understand a sense of place as a feeling of belonging and connectedness created by places, people, or self. My intention is for the viewer to consider their own sense of place by observing elements from my journey that are familiar to them.

The exhibition begins with my move from Australia to Paris. As I was grieving the loss of home, my artmaking became focused on finding a new sense of place. In this vulnerable moment I turned to textiles as this is the medium that I knew best. I learned to sew from my family in a patchwork style and was initially confined to traditional elements like grid composition and vintage-style fabrics. A breakthrough came when I discovered Faith Ringgold whose mixed media approach to textile art allowed me to freely pursue where a sense of place is found. I began to use large embroidery stitches in the style of Natalya Khorover and incorporate my own paintings too. I used motifs of home: the traditional quilting log cabin (Grandmother’s Story, Where we belong, Girlhood), and an indigenous Australian symbol for belonging (Strings Attached).

The interplay of traditional patchwork and contemporary textiles is most fully explored in Family Quilt. After creating the main panel showing family members, I recognised that I had not captured the complexity of sense of place within family. While I was tempted to hem the piece as finished, I began to appreciate its raw edges and loose strings. These ‘unfinished’ qualities allowed me to express my growing understanding: raw edges showing how a family is a work in progress (never complete) and loose strings showing how we remain emotionally attached to places and people. These qualities can be seen throughout my work.

My artworks are exhibited so that the viewer is guided through a growing understanding of a sense of place. The exhibition starts with My Embassy, exhibited low and pleated so that the viewer is pulled into an uncomfortable position emulating the discomfort felt when finding a sense of place. The next two map-based pieces see an expansion of colour as my sense of place expands in my environment. Similarly, when my home in Paris is next shown, in A Room to Sit In, the viewer is struck by the growth of colour which reflects my growing sense of belonging and connectedness. The viewer also begins to notice the transition from a sense of place being merely physical to conceptual, rooted in personal relationships. The audience's comfort increases throughout my exhibition because of the familial medium of textiles and the warm colour scheme. At the end of this section, Family Quilt, utilises imagery from throughout the exhibition reminding the viewer of the people and places they have experienced.