CROSS STITCH

Project statement

Snapshots are the quintessential memory-maker of our age. The transformation of an ordinary snapshot into a fragmented tactile object through cross-stitch comments on the influence that personal photographs exert on one’s memories. Bits and pieces of personal experiences are retained as memories, yet it is ultimately impossible to know what events are genuinely remembered and which are constructed through interaction with and mediation by photographs.

Though the source image was recorded in an exposure that lasted fractions of a second, each needlepoint took months (in some cases, years) to complete. The association of a snapshot with a long production period is counter-intuitive. By definition a snapshot is created without much forethought – the photographer reacts to her surroundings to capture a fleeting moment. New memories are formed as the image I select no longer makes me recall what I was thinking in the seconds when the photograph was recorded; instead I associate the image with the months during which I was constructing the needlepoint.

The memory of the moment of exposure may fade quickly, however, through the intricate needlepoint process, the “memory” of the image is stretched and distended over months as the image is assembled stitch-by-stitch.