This glass capsule* reclaims a homemade cushion cover c1950. On one side of the cover, I have created a kind of salt pool, stitched with glass beads, while on the other, embroidery techniques have been used to create a wound or scar. Informed by the Japanese concept of Wabi-sabi which considers felt experiences of nostalgia and impermanence, This glass capsule is one of a series of works that uses recycled textiles in various stages of disintegration / repair. Here, I have opened out the silk lining and am hand-stitching around stains, holes and other areas of damage. In this way, we are reminded of a former life: an unknowable history as a domestic object. For me it is a poignant symbol of the passage of time, death and the lives of women in service to a home. Extending from previous bodies of work, it speaks to paradoxical experiences of comfort/and terror within the home.
 
The ‘wound’ side of the object will be viewable via a vintage celluloid hand mirror dating from the similar time period as the cushion. Viewers will need to peer behind the object to view the back of the work through the mirror. I intend to use small found objects to create cast bronze fixtures from which the work hangs.
 
*Title taken from the poem Poppies in July by Sylvia Plath