Making lace with bark cloth and fibres, cotton fabrics and man-made materials has been my favourite challenge for several years now. As components of spatial installations, these materials and techniques inspire forever new combinations and uses.
I enjoy creating the mystery of transparency with my work. I love the illusion of shadow. I am intrigued by the Japanese concept of Ma, the experiential idea of space between boundaries that need not be physical. After "[Third Space]" on Rarotonga in 2010, there's now "Third Space II" at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum.
Life in a new context
Remnants of another life often wash ashore onto our beaches. The force of breaking waves has chipped them off a distant whole and the currents of life have abraded their edges. I like to pick them up and give them a new life in unusual material combinations.
"Recycla", hand-coloured wall quilt, glass, coral, shells, machine lace, 30 cm x 170 cm; © A. Eimke 2011.
Out of place: Fragments series
Being out of place: a question of identity. Can we celebrate difference in creating a new composition, re-arranging old or bringing together new elements? Is fragmentation a pre-requisite to creating a new whole? Can alien elements coexist in harmony? How can remnants of the past live on in the present? Is there similarity beyond obvious differences?
Fragments, tapa, coral, machine lace, 30 cm x 30 cm and 25 cm x 25 cm; © A. Eimke 2010.