2021 Grad Show

Kylie Fraser

AUArts Grad Show rpt

Fibre

I am a fibre based artist and craftsperson. My work is created with a variety of methods, such as weaving, crochet, cloth dyeing (both plant based and with an indigo vat), embroidery, darning, hand sewing, and paper making. In addition to the fibre based techniques I have listed, I work with ready made objects and have been utilizing video documentation within my work. I make art as a way to both process the world and my experiences throughout life, and to capture a general sense of the human experience. While my experience is not everyones, I have parts of my life that others can relate to, such as my mental health journey with diagnosed Generalized and Social Anxiety. My grandmothers are another large part of my work, especially concerning the haptic part and learning through doing. Both my grandmothers wanted to teach me how to sew, and both were unable to due to their deteriorating health's, and, in the case of my paternal grandmother, her passing. This branches off of the ideas around relationships within my work and how I am working through, addressing, and confronting them. Technique and process are another focus of mine, with haptic knowledge and the idea of the maker's hand something I hold at the forefront of my mind as I create.

Mending for Others, Repairing Myself (series)

This series looks at my relationship with my own mental health and self, in conjunction with my other relationships outside myself, like friends, family, and colleagues. And as someone who often times puts others before myself, I found a sense of peace and meditation while mending these textiles for the people around me. Using the time to take a moment, and some space for myself. A self ritual that allows me to help myself while in the act of helping others.

Masked Experience (2020)

Masked Experience is made to express my challenges and experience with my anxiety. A coping mechanism that I fall into is masking, I project outwards that everything is fine when my reality is quite the opposite and I am stuck in my own anxiety. When wearing this piece the mask is all you can see, the structure restricts your movement and vision, keeping you in confrontation with the pins. Looking at this piece from the outside you are faced with the soft and fluffy cotton batting that is a complete contrast with the sharp pins inside.

This site may contain artworks with provocative content that some viewers may find uncomfortable or upsetting. AUArts supports a culture of non-censorship and ongoing conversations about contemporary art.