“Paris, this one’s for you”

I just realized I never wrote a blog post about the last weaving I did, which was in Le Marais in Paris, back in Nov ‘22. That trip was a bit of a whirlwind- i was in’n’out in literally 2.5 days🤪

I knew that I wanted to weave while in Paris, and I knew that I wanted to experiment with loose ends, that’s it as far as a plan. My yard took up half my suitcase🤪

I walked around the city with an old friend from San Francisco. By later that afternoon, with rain in the forecast for the rest of the time I was going to be Paris, and us ending up in the Marais after hanging out in Montmartre, I ended up at a public garbage can.

The last two years, my work has taken on a form of social activism- Black Lives Matter and the pandemic. But this piece in Paris was born out of pure love, joy, and excitement to be back in a city I truly enjoy being in. I love everything about Paris- I love the food, the architecture, and the culture of the city which includes its residents piling wine bottles together on the street for recycling pick up. I love it all. And the title to this piece- “Paris, this one’s for you” is an ode to all the cheesy tourist tropes that abound whenever anyone visits the city the first time, or when you scroll through social media and watch influencers visit the exact same places as each other.

Although this piece is not activist in nature, I do think about how weaving & fibers, which are traditionally women’s work, could be used as a form of non-violent protest. But that’s for another day.