date> ongoing since 1992

medium> unravelled used garments

dimensions> approximately 2m x increasing length

description>
Begun in February 1992, Knitwork is a life-long piece made by my unravelling used garments and reknitting the yarn into a single continuously growing object. As it records the ongoing passage of time and effort, the work becomes a monument to the very artifacts that comprise it. At the same time, it is a public manifestation of mundane activity and a confirmation of the massiveness of everyday labour. As a visual record of the passage of time, the details of the piece incidentally register variations in my process, and through these one can retrace a history of decisions. Although the slow accumulation of layers of obsolete goods might recall geological processes, the limits of the piece are actually human; the work will be finished when I cease (to be). It is both sublime and resolutely absurd, both excessive and banal, both rigorous and formless; in other words, it is a practical test of the imagination.

Some presentations of the object include a list chronicling the contents of the piece and/or photographs of the garments most recently added or a small stockpile of garments ready for unravelling. As of 2002, the piece included almost 300 garments. I sometimes perform the work in public while the piece is on exhibition.

collection> Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

exhibition history>
1993 B-312; 1994 SAW Gallery; 1994 Maison de la culture Frontenac; 1995 Randolph Street Gallery; 1995 University of Toronto; 1995 Or Gallery; 1995 The New Gallery; 1995 Center on Contemporary Art; 1995 Yukon Art Gallery; 1996 eyelevel gallery; 1996 London Regional Art and Historical Museums; 1997 Southern Alberta Art Gallery; 1998 Biennale of Sydney; 1999 Art Gallery of Ontario; 2002 The British Museum; 2002 McMaster