"When This You See, Remember Me": Sampler Making as a Material Practice of Identity and Selfhood

Mary Lou Trinkwon

As a historical form, Samplers have acted as a container for individuals, families and the self. Encompassing all the essential elements of storytelling, including a subject, time and place, Samplers have been stitched, handed down across generations and collected by curious individuals and institutions. The interconnectedness, between individuals, families and collectors, between those who made them and those who viewed them, makes samplers stand out as unique objects, storage devices that hold inordinate amounts of information, narratives and stories.

My presentation will include research on historic Samplers, made by my students and exhibition pieces from a community project at the Britannia Gallery, which I curated in August 2005. I will discuss Samplers in terms of how they function as narrative, the multiple narrative aspects they contain and the diverse content, materials and formal aspects that makes each of them unique. Samplers lend themselves to a reading of multiple narratives leading us (the viewer) to our own stories, through the intimate interaction between maker and viewer. Sampler making and viewing allows for the location of the self within a broad cultural, social and personal context. Given the historic backdrop of Sampler making, where Samplers where generally not seen as an opportunity for self-expression, this theme is, I believe, compelling and worthy of discussion within contemporary Textile Art practice.

 

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