To stitch; a thread or line that holds things together - this is the literal translation of the ancient Sanskrit word “sutra.”

In my “Healing Sutras” series of hand-stitched textiles, layers of memory and material bound together create a landscape of light and shadow. Depressions and contours are picked out in stitch, tracking an interior landscape made outwardly visible and visceral. Pleats and patterns create a rippling undercurrent beneath a surface of white; barely suppressed behind the stillness.

Borrowing from textile traditions such as whole cloth quilting, Ayrshire whitework, and the Irish linen trade in the North of Ireland, the Healing Sutras incorporate vintage textiles, deconstructed vintage garments (many handed down through the women in my family), and hand stitching. These materials and techniques, imbued with a history of their own, allow me to explore ideas of lineage, legacy, and what it means to truly “belong” to a place.