These images no longer exist as works in their own right. They have been absorbed into the latest form I’ve been making in my ongoing chrysalis series; their subtlety now remains hidden beneath stitched folds of silk and metal. Only I know they exist – they are present yet unseen. As a metaphor, a chrysalis seems very appropriate for this current work – it’s a space where, hidden from view, transformation can happen at its own pace.
As older women, we are also present yet increasingly unseen. But this invisibility is by no means a constraint to living meaningfully. Indeed, it allows us a sense of freedom, as we remain unseen and unknown. We have the ability to live as we choose, unobserved, no longer living on the surface of ‘the gaze’, no longer the object but the subject. Our state of invisibility as older women can inform how we understand our transient being in the world.
What’s really important in life seems to happen beneath the surface.