05. The Tree of Life
Stitches, de-coded.
There are two main books that are constantly on rotation in my studio.
One is a heavy texbook on Ukrainian textile history, and the other, a thinned out pamphlet brimming with coveted embroidery stitch designs. The traditional knowledge in these books form the groundwork for what I create. They bring words to all that feels familiar about Ukrainian textiles, words that were not readily available to my family for decades. They taught me about the intelligence of a single stitch. A threaded line can tell the story of a fateful river, or of grape vines circling around a sturdy fence. I began to catalogue Ukrainian embroidery motifs as a way to give them a home, and to let them feel safe enough to share their mysticism. This week, as I returned to these books, I was reminded of one motif in particular.
Sketchbook entry from October 15, 2023 - The Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life, as an embroidery symbol, lives in three worlds at once. Through the root, it lives in the underworld -the past, through the trunk, it resides in our realm - the present, and through the crown, it sees the life to come.
It is the female body with her hands outstretched, or a shy petunia potted on the windowsill. It is truth, it is unity, it is lineage.
Since the dawn of Bronze-Age civilization, the Tree of Life was the emblem of nature’s power for virtually all cultures on Earth. It can grow twenty fruits at once, grant immortality, or even tempt Eve to kickstart the suffering of man.
In Ukraine, the tall, rectangular shape of the rushnyk towel reigns as this motif’s main home. The cloth’s continuity, both in shape and imagery, travels as an extension of the owner - inviting prosperity and a long-life.
What will my tree of life look like? Will the roots and trunk exist in the same place? Or patched together from cloth of different origin? Perhaps it would be a plant cutting - wrapped in damp newspaper, smuggled past border agents at the airport. Would the cutting grow again in water… or in earth?
My grandmother once brought a severed Anthurium stem from overseas. Young and curly in her hand, she said, “only new growth has the hope of taking root.'“
And so really, the Tree of Life is a promise to survival in many forms. Every family cloth has its own variation, but no matter the design, its dedication to growth retains the truth of all living beings. We are diverse in our roots, but made to thrive together.
What I’m making -
Thread can take on many different styles of movement depending on the surface. Taking a traditional chevron pattern as inspiration, I began to bring it into our dimension through layering, folding, and gradient colour. I was so happy with the life this gave off - frozen in time, this swatch captures a design caught in the exciting moment of wanting to leap past its borders.
What I’m sitting with -
Check out this exciting public arts program that places poetry on transit systems across Toronto. It is the best reason I ever had to crane my neck in a rush hour street car. After a mysterious dissapearance in 2012, Poems in Passage was brought back to life in 2024, featuring talented poets like Adebe DeRango-Adem, whose work is featured below -
To learn more about Poems in Passage and the work they do, visit poemsinpassage.com.
Keep growing :)
Sasha
I love what you're making here with the lines on fabric and the dynamic changes that occur with the manipulation of the fabric. Your creative process is inspiring!