'Sewing' the seeds

 We had a site visit to Saltaire in January 2023, including a wander around the private allotment site, taking photographs in and around Salts Mill, and investigating the Old Washhouse Garden, to give context for the piece of work for this module.

Letting the experience sink in afterwards, I thought about the definition of the word ‘habitat’, and related words and synonyms (one of my ‘things’ has always been around words).

Playing with these words I realised that the ones that resonated deeply were ones like ‘home’, ‘safety’, ‘haven’, and so on.  I also looked at antonyms (opposites) just for balance, and again the words that resonated were the opposites of the words above, around the idea of being restricted, hemmed in, or feeling unsafe.

I played with the idea of habitats as containers, literally and metaphorically, and created some different objects.  I chopped up an old, plastic milk carton and stitched it back together to make a ‘house’, plaited and corded different sorts of plastic bags to create textiles to shape into containers, and this then led to the little boxes with words.

I combined the habitat words and containers ideas, and made some little card boxes, onto which I stitched the words, adding thread to hang the boxes.  These I loved making, and I'd like to develop the idea further.

At the same time, I did some mark-making around habitat, but not from a word perspective.  What does habitat FEEL like emotionally?  What sensations does it conjure up, and how could I show this in a quickly painted image?

It feels like a cosy hug, something secure and safe, but not too tight or threatening, although I sense that there can be elements of restriction sometimes: you can’t stray too far from your ‘habitat’ without something needing to change.

Some images I made didn’t sit right, others resonated more.  I took a couple of the paintings and my little boxes to a couple of nearby locations that are important to me, and took photographs.  Although the locations are within the same village, the feel of each set of photographs is different, and I enjoyed the exercise - something I will repeat as this project progresses.