Resilient Stitch - Wellbeing and Connection in Textile Art by Claire Wellesley-Smith
Published by Batsford
Of mind or matter, mending a mind, mending a material….now more than ever, we all yearn for more vital forms of repair than finding a hole in ones’ sock and locating a way of patching it together again. It isn’t just our visual outerwear which needs cared for - it begins inside. We now live within a society of mental health matters, of a relieving openness surrounding those formally uttered in ‘whisperic’ (yes I have just made that one up) tones. Within this title, Smith connects the requirement for inner repair to the outer repairs which are textile art inclined.
Maybe it is her experience working so much in the community which has opened her up to learning more about the people who surround her, what they are thinking, what they are feeling; I would imagine this to be the case. She seems to be able to utter both visually and via text what we need right now in this current society. We don’t need arts for arts sake, we need it to have a reason, and the reason is ourselves.
This is no fast fashion in reading value, it is a title to take slowly, just as the suggestions within are to be considered, not acted upon in haste. Encouragement is given to ‘make’ and ‘unmake’, to reflect, not speed and neglect.
Maybe we will embark on our own community connection upon reading this book, I particularly love the words Smith uses to describe her practice on her About Us page on her own website…
‘I have a longitudinal approach to process and materials and consider growing, making, unmaking and remaking as intrinsic to my work’
Length of time can have a grounding affect in my opinion. So use this book to slowly gain health, both emotionally and physically. Learn to keep note of your life via stitch, and with the physical stitches, stitch yourself up too….there may be no lasting cure, but I personally would prescribe textile art to be a game changer.