mirror covers...

As I’m kind of isolated out here in the Berkshires, I thought I might share these images of a mirror cover that I just completed…but wanted to add some contextual information, so here’s a brief read, then images.

For this piece I  worked  with recycled fabric and found materials; my interest in mirror covers was incited during our summer intensive when we visited a textile collection . Upon researching the idea of mirror covers, I found that mirror covers are used to:

·       Cover a mirror during mourning so that the mourners do not focus upon themselves (vanity) but on the dead; they are tasked to consider the essential of the deceased rather than the surface (i.e. NOT what kind of car they drove)

·       Cover a mirror at sundown for fear that the DEVIL might be seen after dark(my favorite..who’s looking in the mirror?)

·       Cover a mirror during mourning so that the spirit does not travel through the mirror to a netherworld but goes the way that spirits should…

I'm going to explain a bit about the work, as the images do not translate well...this work is pieced from men's dress shirts and waterford dinner napkins and white handkerchiefs. I used ecru cotton embroidery thread for stitching and decoration.
I was watching bits of the RNC (?) and just started thinking about policy makers, politicians, administrators, and other persons in power, and this piece happened as I considered “power”. I’ve read some studies, including one which asks “Can Power Corrupt?”( answer, yes, but morally sound people tend to continue to be morally sound when in power)and the white shirt study in which people are asked to watch a video, and count the number of times a person in a white shirt is passed the ball..during the video a gorilla suited woman comes out, bangs on her chest, and walks out..and a high percentage of the viewers do not see the gorilla (about half.. to see the video go to Smithsonian.com/gorilla)  This phenomenon is called “inattentional blindness”. I’m also a big fan of This American Life and the podcasts on educational policy and the banking industry.
 I apologize for the quality of the images, but mirrors are difficult to photograph, and at night even more so. The small mirror to the right reads:

white collar darning stitch web of lies snow job feather stitch what goes around comes around cover up roll up your sleeves

gather chain stitch buttoned down patch things up all buttoned up shirt tails would you see the gorilla? labels darning stitch

mine everyone you meet is your mirror blanket stitch buttonhole the mirror does nothing it simply reflects easy work and a

white collar herringbone stitch keeping up appearances mine its all smoke and mirrors be the mirror who reflects it