Yearning for Kinship: An Artistic Exploration of Moss and Embroidery

Abstract

In this visual essay, the author examines her relationship with moss through the lens of embroidery. Through practice-led research, she proposes to engage with the medium of embroidery as a tactile, reflective method of inquiry: a practice of exploration embedded in time, feeling, sensation, posture, gesture, artistic expression, and a yearning for kinship. She argues that embroidery provides the necessary care, material intimacy and a more thoughtful pace to familiarize oneself with the world and temporality of mosses. She begins by proposing that knowledge about the world of plants can be gained by initiating a subjective approach, one that is grounded in her own wonder for moss. She then goes on to establish a shared material and expressive quality between embroidery and moss, by thinking through her medium and creating a multisensory practice which allows for an embodied awareness of her chosen subject. She demonstrates how embroidery, as a mindful medium grounded in slowness, echoes the vegetal temporality and growth rate of mosses and finally, she examines the potential of embroidery as a practice of care, one that allows her to form kinships with the more-than-human world.