© Sabrina Gschwandtner, Hula Hoop, 16 mm film, polyamide thread, 2010.
Watch & See exhibition, Gustavsbergs Konsthall, Sweden, 2009.
© Sabrina Gschwandtner, Quilts in Women’s Lives (left) and What is a Dress (right), 16 mm film, polyamide thread, cotton thread, 2009
“My quilts utilize film footage from early Feminist documentaries. I re-work these narratives by sewing them into new configurations and adding in my own footage.
The source of the historical footage is the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), which recently de-accessioned the 16 mm films in their library. Anthology Film Archives took some of FIT’s films into their archives and gave the rest to artists who work with found footage. The short, educational documentaries I received are dated 1952 – 1982, and focus on textile crafts such as crocheting, knitting, sewing, fabric dyeing, and quilting.
After watching the movies, I cut them up and sew them together with my personal film footage. I bleach, dye, scratch, and paint some of the film.
The formal logic of my sewn designs are derived from popular American quilt motifs including log cabin squares, octagonal stars, and “string quilts,” wherein long, thin fabric scraps left over from other projects are cut and sewn together. The works are hung like curtains in the windows of exhibition spaces, or displayed on gallery walls via light boxes.”Sabrina’s statement
More of her work here
N I H I L S E N T I M E N T A L G I A, 