Following a recent trip to India, I was inspired to create a body of work on the subject of privacy. It pits the juxtaposition of the privacy of the individual with that of a society in which privacy is seemingly impossible to achieve.
Locally mass-produced solid privacy screens made of concrete are seen everywhere, acting as a type of camouflage to what lies beyond, perhaps beautifying, perhaps distracting from something visually unattractive. In much the same way as people adorn their lives with material possessions and clothing, these highly ornamental facades clothe the buildings they are attached to. Their cold, lifeless colour belies a society which readily embraces colour.
Whilst using a variety of materials and processes to construct Privacy #1, I have interpreted through hand stitch the colour and vibrancy of a lively society, where, feeling both exposed and different, I find myself with nowhere to hide.
As a practicing textile artist, Rosalind Byass likes to work mainly in the field of fabric collage, manipulating fabrics and surfaces to enhance the work she creates. She loves to include faces in her work and to work in 3D forms. The processes she uses are varied, and include hand and machine stitch, layering, and knitting. Byass finds herself creating individual pieces with a personal meaning, and in doing so, her preference is to use recycled materials in her work.
fabric, red mesh fruit bags, wool
38 x 34 x 10 cm
Finalist
Judges of the 2015 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize: Dr Michael Brand (Director of the Art Gallery of NSW), Penelope Seidler AM (Arts Patron and Director of Harry Seidler & Associates) and Barbara Flynn (International Curatorial Advisor).