Not pearls of wisdom

Lovely blog readers, over the next week or 2 I'm going to write a series of posts here reflecting on who I am. Before eyeballs roll up in exasperation be reassured I'm gradually working my way back to focussing on my art. If you find the navel gazing and politicking all boring and tedious I get it. Hang in there a bit and I'll shake the bee out of my bonnet...Will provide some pretty pictures so if the writing is all too shite to plough through there is some light relief.

"Ethnic Icon 2"mixed media canvas from 2012.  48x65cm. Applique, machine embroidery, felting

In my last blog I explained why I ditched Instagram.

This blog is the place where I’m entitled to say whatever I want, including any, all or some of my contrarian views. If you disagree please understand I strive to make this a safe place where I’m not demanding or expecting you’re here just to provide the passive applause soundtrack. If you feel inclined to comment, to disagree with anything I’ve said, I welcome it. 

I’m not a great all knowing Buddha sitting on my lotus throne dispensing pearls of wisdom. I won’t be shocked or outraged if you rush up and kick my halo off and jump on it (although I hope you’ll refrain from spitting on it). I actually concede, like other adults in the room, I don’t have all the answers, I’m not always right (possibly even seldom). My views are always conditioned because they arise from the circumstances in which my identity has been formed…. but I try to express what I think coming from an understanding that my lifetime is a continuum of learning, revision and striving to find an ethical way of living within flexible orthodoxies. 

"Ethnic Icon 1" mixed media canvas, 2012. 39x62cm.Applique, machine embroidery, acrylic paint

Above all, I always aspire to work from an orthodoxy that is cosmopolitan, flexible to be re-evaluated and inclusive. I want to be a member of the human race, not somebody confined to having a voice limited by "race", nationality, culture, religious beliefs (none) or gender.

That all sounds pretty virtuous and high minded so I’ll acknowledge it’s a never ending project to keep that inclusivity open to people I judge as tribal and dogmatic. As soon as I say to myself “this is my position” in my head I’ll start formulating and running the opposing view and feel compelled to allow that that idea has authenticity too. It is a paradox of holding a cosmopolitan attitude that if its applied with due integrity you have to allow that diverging opinions and world views, arising from individual subjectivity, identity and multiple intersectionalities, are no less authentic than our own.

Born in 1959, so I’m now 61, I’ve lived through a fascinating era. The second wave of feminism, that I was too young to understand or be involved in, made irrevocable changes to how my life has panned out. Political and social changes wrought by “Womens Liberation” meant my life was no longer going to be confined to the world of domesticity. My own mother had to leave her job when she got married. As her firstborn child I grew up with the expectation I’d work outside “home”, have the option of tertiary education and quite possibly even have a professional career. I had access to what was quaintly termed “birth control” which allowed me to engage in out of marriage sexual relationships without the consequence of an unwanted pregnancy. In 1971 after my mother got divorced she couldn’t get a mortgage from the bank to buy a house because of not having a husband. She had to persist and fight just to get a loan to buy a car. 60 years later all this must be virtually inconceivable to young women.

Penelope, a necklace I made from 2016 (the face image is 18thC historical and out of copyright)

A nicer place sans me

I want to acknowledge the terrible and unnecessary death of aboriginal man David Dungay. Mr Dungay died in a police cell at Long Bay Jail on December 29, 2015. He is one of 430+ indigenous people who died in police custody in Australia since 1991. If you want to know more, and find out how you can act to support indigenous activists, click on his name to go to this Guardian newspaper article. Follow up on the many great links at the bottom of the item.

COPWATCH

Copwatch is an app that aboriginal youth can put on their phones. Follow that link to go to a website where young blak people can find out what their legal rights are to record any police harassment they might get involved in.

my pdf sewing pattern "Serenade Skirt"

Closed my Instagram Account

Two days ago I closed my Instagram account @pearlredmoonart. Its not just temporarily disabled but deleted. When it was deleted I didn’t take the option to save the pictures and commentary that had been collected so I have no archive of what was posted there over 8 months (? Not even sure if that was the length of time) However I’m aware that some people, as one person described it have “screenshotted the hell”, out of selected things I wrote and no doubt some of that will be circling around cyber space for years.

On my blog, roughly a couple of years ago, I naively inserted myself into the debate about whether describing a sewing pattern as a kimono was a cultural appropriation. I now describe that as “naïve” because I stupidly thought it was an issue open for discussion. Further, I believed I was a legitimate stakeholder in such a discussion and had an entitlement to say what I thought coming from my particular background of knowledge and experiences.

This is a round up of why I thought I was a stakeholder entitled to make a credible contribution:

·         I’m an independent clothing designer publishing pdf sewing patterns to sell.

·         I’ve written a blog for 11 years that’s mainly about my textile art making and clothing designs 

·         Over those 11 years I’ve joined innumerable Facebook sewist groups, visited websites, followed the blogs of other sewists and made 100s of comments in those places. I’m a member of the international online sewing fraternity.

·         I’ve been making my own clothes for 40 years so are an accomplished seamstress.

·         I have a trade industry qualification as a sample machinist and patternmaker, gained at Auckland Technical Institute in New Zealand in 1984.

·         I’m a self proclaimed textile artist who advocates for sustainability, ethics and transparency in the international sewing industry.

·         In my art and production of clothes to sell I operate within a fairly radical self imposed code of ethics and transparency.

For months I blathered away on my blog hearing only my own voice soaking into the walls of my padded cell. I got no feedback from the activists who had called out other sewing pattern businesses for using kimono. Without feedback I felt strangely untethered and it was easy to wander down some lesser visited avenues, knocking on all sorts of doors hoping someone was home.

another version of the Serenade Skirt, one colour with red overlocked seams on the outside.

Months into my monologue somebody finally sent a private email elucidating me that cultural appropriation isn’t an intellectual idea up for debate.

They told me my disagreement was seen as quite simply a racist rant.

I was told that I had no right to question the person who had declared using kimono was a cultural appropriation. Her Japanese heritage was her authority. Even if that person was born in the USA, had lived their whole life there and was an American citizen. If I was questioning why that person had the authority to speak for Japanese people then that was an argumentative and defiant attitude coming from my white woman privilege. Any disagreement, any begging to differ was an arrogant, violent expression of my racism.

I am still mad about that but I've reluctantly learned to shut up. They are so much more powerful than me. Of the two most significant Instagram influencers I infuriated one has 17,000+ followers and the other a staggering 150,000+. Until Tuesday I had 640. If they tell their followers I'm a racist bully no one is going to question it. 

As an Aspergers person Instagram was challenging to negotiate. The rules of engagement were even more baffling than successfully surviving face to face interactions in real life! Then there was the stress of seeing the clothes I've made and designed offered for sale by Chinese scam manufacturers, scrolling past on the screen.

I did clunky moves on Insta posting those comments that offended. Within 4 weeks I had several sustainability/ethical practice campaigners for the clothing industry and some anti-racist activists blocking me. Some went beyond just kicking me off and called me a white racist woman ignorant of my privilege, plus, some of the comments DM by their followers said - Liar. Bully. Accused me of trying to be a "victim". Said I intentionally stalked, terrified and hurt BIPOC people. Accused me of trying to use being neuro-divergent to get a free pass to be racist. Lots more.

That was all enormously distressing and I'm now living in this weird parallel universe where everything is upside down.

After those horrendous awkward blunders it was obviously best to get out of that toxic shouty world before more people noticed the she-devil was amongst them. Crosses and wreaths of garlic were being hurled to ward me off....sigh...

Tuesday was the day to cut and run and retreat back to the safe place of this blog. Having told this story from now on I'd like to get back to the core issues I care about -

This is my pdf pattern "Theodora Tunic" decorated with sewed on appliques.

textile art 

sewing our own clothes 

raising awareness of the exploitation of the international fashion industry to the environment and its workers,

understanding what is a sustainable and ethical way to chose your clothes

Upcycling, re-making, making do 

Small Acts, Big Change

Last year I was asked by our local shire council, Scone, to join my home town campaign for a Tidy Town Award. Most Australians reading this will be aware of the decades old Tidy Towns movement.

With the support of council community coordinator Heather Ranclaud I joined 3 others in the sustainability category to make a submission about how we make a difference by recycling. When the judges visited my studio in November 2019 I showed them the garments I making for my "Thirty Coats" exhibition. They saw my collection of used clothes and textiles, all sourced inexpensively from thrift shops and garage sales and I showed them how I altered the fabrics with stenciling, applique and patchwork.

In late 2019 it was announced that Murrurundi won an award for our contribution to sustainability!

Keep Australia Beautiful - NSW Sustainable Communities.

As part of the recognition for that award I was asked to show my work for this small video

Small Acts, Big Change. Pearl Moon

Going forward, these are my ongoing commitments to sustainability and ethical making for the years 2020 & 2021 and into the forseeable future:

 1) Every garment I make will comprise at least 90%+ used clothes and fabrics. 

 2) Every garment I sell will be made completely by my own labours. I cut, embellish with paint and stitching and sew every garment. To date I've never employed outworker sewists and would acknowledge if I started to do so.

3) Every garment I make is unique, I don't do any sort of mass manufacture - small or (heaven forbid!) large scale.

"Hie Coat" 2019, by Pearl Red Moon. Made from thrifted remnants of cotton canvas, brushed cotton and cotton broadcloth. The garment was stenciled with my hand cut stencils, and the sewing techniques were primarily patchwork and applique.

In the book Thirty Coats that I published about the garments in the exhibition this is the statement on the poster....

" Using only second hand and discarded fabrics each coat is an example of how skill and re-imagining can transform and make valuable what was destined for landfill. Following in the tradition of re-make and make-do, such as Boro and patchwork, the artist has applied a wide range of technique to transform the mundane salvaged materials into beautiful and intriguing garments that transcend fast fashion and have the potential to be worn for decades"

Currently a lot makers and independent sewing pattern businesses are falling over themselves to get on lists identifying the good ally anti-racist people to buy from. I hope it fulfills the idealistic aspiration to raise the profile and sales of BIPOC owned and run businesses. Personally I'm ideologically opposed to getting myself on such a list. I am white and privileged (though also poor and autistic!) and in the current heightened consciousness over BLM issues I'm more comfortable staying out of the room and letting BIPOC have the mic. 

Though, quite honestly I suspect my stand on kimono has firmly branded me a racist white supremacist in some peoples estimation. I cannot help but notice I'm still blocked by various IG influencers I offended during that period when I disagreed that using kimono was an unacceptable cultural appropriation. That is list I never volunteered to be on and will most likely never get off for some people...! It's frustrating that I continue to be disdained over that issue when I believe my advocacy and activism for an ethical and sustainable clothing industry is far more relevant. 

I recommend following my slow fashion season journey to keep up with the political activism.

#mysfsjourney

All Living Under One Sun

Below are links to a couple of articles on Medium that really pushed my whitey buttons...

Performative Allyship is Deadly

by Holiday Phillips

I recommend to follow her on Instagram too, the link is with Medium article.


This next item is written by the amazing Ijeoma Oluo, author of "So You Want to Talk About Racism". Worth noting that this item was published in 2017 and isn't one iota less relevant.

Welcome To The Anti-Racism Movement — Here’s What You’ve Missed



And because I hope I'm more articulate with pictures than words, this is a mixed media work from 2012. Called "All Living Under One Sun". Those words are on the canvas to the right of the figure but too small to read in these images. It had been intended to go into my exhibition at Muswellbrook Gallery in 2013 but was sold in advance so I've never shown it on this blog before. I think the dimensions were around 46x 58cm.

"All Living Under One Sun" mixed media, Pearl Red Moon 2012

Good books and articles to read

Current reading list up to June 8, 2020

Cathy Park Hong  

Minor Feelings  (February2020)

Ibram X Kendi  last year I also read his first book “Stamped From the Beginning”

How to be an Anti-Racist (August 2019)

Ruby Hamad 

White Tears/Brown Scars (September 2019)

Matt Taibbi

I Can’t Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street (2017)

Anne Applebaum  

Resist the Urge to Simplify the Story (June 4, 2020) article from Atlantic magazine

Twilight of Democracy: the Seductive Lure ofAuthoritarianism. (book to be released July 2020)

Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Case for Reparations (2014)  article from Atlantic magazine

Life in the time of the pandemic

It’s quite a while since I wrote a blog. I’ve thought about it every few days for months, but….honestly, kept feeling unable to say anything that doesn’t offend myself for sounding either too blithely mawkish or ridiculously bathos.

I’ve been working erratically, trying to distance myself not so much from people but from news of the endless litany of almost biblical ravages. 2020 is turning out a year unlike any other with the quantity of significant distractions piling up on each other in an avalanche of catastrophe. 

Starting on January 1^st we had cataclysmic bushfires destroying vast swathes of the country to a degree never recorded since white colonization. Before that was over in late February the pandemic had arrived on our shores and started it’s own peculiar reign of devastation.

a collection of earrings I made in front of TV during May 2020. Some beaded, some cloth

I am fortunate that my life has barely been affected. An aspect of my Aspergers is that I’m a very insular person who avoids friendships and social situations. Since I was able to leave my last workplace 4 years ago (due to the financial support of my husband) I’ve worked alone in my studio with great relief at not having to accommodate being around people with their constant inane chatter and the weird interactions they call “communication”... wtf!!! So you could describe me as a lifelong instinctive social distancer. That is my preferred comfortable place.

I’m an Aspergers person who was perplexed for 50 years why people thought solitary confinement in jail was a punishment. I honestly thought for decades that it was a privilege granted for good behaviour! In the past, sometimes when I’d had enough of the world I wondered if I should break the law to go to jail so I could get put in solitary confinement. Comforting to know the option is always there if required….

I’ve been working on digitizing the pattern for the loose, kimono style coat I used for almost all the coats in my “Thirty Coats” exhibition. It is very close to being ready for publication. If I could find 2 days when my eyeballs aren’t plastered to a screen watching the hideous person who is president of the USA bring that once noble (yes and flawed) country to its knees and final dismemberment….well, in those 48 hours I could finish up and publish….

Meantime, here's a preview, the pattern is called "Coat Thirty"

line diagrams. Coat Thirty as a 7/8 length coat, 3/4 length or hip length jacket

Lastly, if anyone would like to see the coats that were in my exhibition I've published a softcover book with photographs of all of them which is for sale in my Etsy shop

Thirty Coats exhibition book

Friday the 13th is coming

Two more coats to be seen in "Thirty Coats"

The exhibition opening night is Friday 13th next week... perhaps I should offer as an inducement to attend a free roll of toilet paper and facemask to everyone who comes? In the last few days the run on toilet paper has made it a valuable commodity. I am honestly gobsmacked over this. Stupidity is apparently as contagious as diarrhoea. BTW, for those who were late to stockpile and might be anxious what to do should they be caught in an awkward situation - I read with amazement in the latest issue of Peppermint magazine that you can buy "reusable toilet paper", see page 131 to order.

Perhaps I should have had less indifference to superstition and not scheduled the opening for Friday 13th....?

front of Romance is Lace coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

back of Romance is Lace coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

detail of Romance is Lace coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

The image of the Japanese woman on the back of the coat is from a vintage 19thC postcard. I altered and enlarged it in Photoshop and sell the printed cloth by the yard/metre in my Spoonflower shop...there is a link to the on the right sidebar ....Boho Banjo Cloth

front of Spirogyra coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

back of Spirogyra coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

detail of print on Spirogyra coat

Golden Bird winging it

front of Golden Bird coat by Pearl Moon 2020

back of Golden Bird coat by Pearl Moon 2020

detail of Golden Bird coat by Pearl Moon 2020

Above are pictures of Golden Bird, another coat to be seen in my Thirty Coats exhibition. The main fabrics used have been upcycled from 2 doona covers and a remnant piece of crimpilene fabric found at the Aberdeen community shop. The crimpilene is that beige piece with the spots and crosses. Those of us older than 60 would remember crimpilene. A horrible man made fibre that didn't breathe - it was like wearing a plastic bag - but had the upside of never needing to be ironed. I've only used small pieces on this coat so the wearer won't feel like they are going around wearing a mobile steam bath.

I was thrilled to receive these pictures a few days ago. In October last year I taught a class about stenciling and embellishing fabrics in the techniques I've developed. The fabulous jacket above was made by a student with the fabrics she made in class. The pattern is my "Zambeesi Jacket".

I'll be teaching this class again on the last weekend of my exhibition in Newcastle, in the workshop area of the Newcastle Art Space gallery, except this time students will make a skirt rather than a jacket. All the information is on this poster below.

Soft Tiles, another coat

"Soft Tiles" another coat to be in the exhibition Thirty Coats.

Nirvana is blue polka dots

Though I'm reluctant to show any more of my art to wear on this blog into the future
...it feels like throwing my house open and inviting the thieves in to help themselves...
I really love this coat that will be in my exhibition next month and wanted to share it with people who appreciate textile art.

"Nirvana is blue polka dots" coat by Pearl Red Moon 2020

Like all the coats in the exhibition this one is made entirely from thrifted and used fabrics. I only bought the fantastic blue polka dot cotton seersucker from the thrift shop at Aberdeen 3 days ago. It was a donated textile remnant, about 2.5m, costing $2. I had made the fairly intricate patchwork piece with the emerald/grey/red from polyester cotton sheets about a month ago. As sometimes happens I got stuck with where to go next and set it aside.

upper left front of "Nirvana is blue polka dots"

close up detail of large patchwork section on the lower back of the coat

back of "Nirvana is blue polka dots"

I hope some people will come to the official opening of "Thirty Coats" on Friday 13th March at Newcastle Art Space, 6 pm. I'm greatly honoured to have Anne Kempton, the owner of Timeless Textiles Gallery, give the opening speech.

There will be 28 more spectacular coats along with the 2 shown here today. Also, they are all amazingly affordable if you actually want to buy and wear one these pieces! Prices will be between a mere Aus$200 to $500! (though of course, if you wait a month, you'll probably be able to buy a crappy ChicV fake ripoff for US$48)

Be kind to Aspies, we struggle...

This morning I heard from somebody who recently purchased the Sencha Kimono PDF pattern and she wrote to me with some kind comments about her interest to read about my one sided debate where I refuted the contention that using "kimono" was an offensive appropriation. As all that happened about 6 months ago I was surprised to still feel so emotional that remembering made me cry. I am quite prepared to acknowledge that my position may have been wrong(?) - that is why I wanted to talk about it!!!! - but what really hurts is the way all the people who publicly called for making it an issue of action and recognition not only totally ignored my desire to discuss - I was actively censored and ejected from various FB groups, blogs and Instagram followings. Even called a troll and a racist. As an Aspergers person who has been regularly bullied in workplaces when I query stuff it just confirms that withdrawing to my default comfort zone of non-communication with NTs is the safest place to be. 

I remain baffled why questioning was such an outrage....