Eleven Words is an installation combining video, sculpture, and layered textile works. Originating during a residency in Iceland, it explores the tension between environmental overwhelm and the act of making—how we search for meaning, connection, and care. Through repetition and the reworking of a single phrase, the work moves from doubt toward a quieter, more deliberate sense of hope.
felted Icelandic wool, sterling silver, fabric scrap, thread, paper, acrylic, video
videography and editing by Francesca Beatrice Mărie
dimensions variable
2023-2024
This work began during a residency in Iceland, where I found myself working beside the rhythmic cycle of a washing machine—one of those hyper-“efficient” all-in-one models that seemed to run endlessly. The percussive sound was both hypnotic and intrusive, becoming an unexpected soundtrack that slowly shaped the contours of the piece.
In Eleven Words, I’m wrestling with the feeling of overwhelm many of us face in the context of climate change and human-caused environmental damage—the sense that individual actions matter, yet feel insignificant against larger systemic forces. As a clothing maker, I’m acutely aware of how deeply these issues are embedded in my own materials and processes: resource-intensive fibers, pollution, waste, and the accumulation of scraps that are difficult to resolve responsibly.
And yet, cloth is also connection—handled, altered, and carried by many human hands. By questioning and reworking the phrase “there is nothing I can do that will make it better,” I try to interrupt that narrative, creating small spaces that hold both uncertainty and the possibility of hope.