Unfinished business

As always,  I have several threads (if you'll forgive the pun) going at once. Recently, I've been completing one or two pieces of unfinished work and revisiting ideas that had not resolved themselves into anything meaningful. This week, I've focused on stitch and the black and white photographs I took in Australia eighteen months ago. The experiences I had while I was there and the imagery I developed following the visit continue to occupy my thoughts.

This is a larger piece that I first thought about several months ago and couldn't quite see my way through. It is 17 x 70 cm - odd dimensions which will no doubt give me framing and presentation difficulties - and it follows on from previous work snippets of which I've shown before here and towards the end of an exhibition post here. Like those pieces, it is based on photographs taken of a tented outdoor theatre space near Cairns in Queensland, Australia.

The tracing paper areas and the circles, punched holes, and 'blind' stitches (which are quite difficult to see on screen) reference the aboriginal peoples who still live in the area. Their art work, especially in painting, often features dots and circles to hide deeply personal aspects of their spiritual beliefs. Because of the difficulty in seeing these, I've added details below, though I'm not sure how much this helps!

It's interesting that, as I view this piece and the details online, I can see ways to play further with layout and perhaps to reduce the number of images by one. Maybe things would even work better as two pairs of images?

I often find this happens when I post. There is something about the process that brings more objectivity and allows me to be more self-critical ... very helpful!