Comfort objects

How can I create security? How can I seek connection and fold back at the same time? How to be alone together and find a place where it is okay to not be okay? When I feel bad, I seek support from the other person but at the same time feel like a burden. I translate this inner conflict into comfort objects: textile works that make myself visible, precisely by hiding.

Touch is central to these comfort objects. The tactile materials and knitting techniques that create relief and texture invite to feel. However, this need not always be a pleasant experience. Some textures and materials are hard or rather cold. Similarly, processes of mourning and comfort do not always feel comfortable.

Colour here acts as a distraction mechanism, a mask. It camouflages my feelings but at the same time shows a play of the subconscious; a search or desire for naivety. From the security of the comfort objects, I moved outwards. Like cuddly objects, they are dragged along. The image may look comical but at the same time evokes discomfort, visually and physically.

These objects are places where you can retreat into and be seen. It is not about what the object is, but what it does.