This exhibition delicately addresses the uncomfortable subject of illness and death. Grief and bereavement are universal feelings and this exhibition explores this stage of human existence which due to its personal and sensitive nature is not often discussed.
Drawing from her personal experience of living through her mother’s illness and untimely death and the stories of twelve daughters who shared a similar experience, Karike Ashworth combines hand-crafted stitching and embroidery with hospital linen to create a thought-provoking installation. The resulting artworks are contemporary portraits made from discarded hospital linen which explore the different ways of expressing and working through the grief associated with the death of a loved one.
Condemned hospital linen forms the backbone of this body of work. Condemned hospital linen refers to laundry items that have become unfit for use and destined for incineration. The artist sees an analogy between the condemned linen items and dying hospital patients, implying that each becomes synonymous with the end of a cycle of use.
Lamentation transforms the personal possession of grief into something much more public and communal – a shared space for sadness but also for story-telling, for social history, and for remembering.
Karike Ashworth is a multi-disciplinary artist living and working in south east Queensland. She creates contemporary artworks that reflect her interest in common human experiences and social convention. Karike holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts from the Queensland College of Art (2013), and BFA (Honours) from the Queensland University of Technology (2014). She is currently undertaking a PhD at Queensland University of Technology.
