I have written plenty over the years about clothing and its significance in my own life; The Slow Wardrobe is a long-term personal project sporadically documented here which some of you may recall; and long-term readers may also remember the workshops I developed for my Estonian residency back in 2012 that explored ways of representing and celebrating clothes as part of the texture of daily life.

In my artistic practice I often explore how textiles might be represented in sound, and how sounds can be used in conjunction with textiles to create works with a strong sense of place. My projects invariably have a social dimension to them; a way of connecting textiles with the idea of social fabric. For example with “Listening to Shetland Wool” – the performance-lecture I created for Shetland Wool Week 2013 – I explored how wool production in Shetland relates to other aspects of life such as fishing and crofting; industrial knitwear technology; and the folk music of the isles… Wool and its stories are an amazing starting point from which to discover many aspects of the history of life in Shetland.

I found the same was true when I recorded Cumbrian shepherds and their sheep for my installation of knitted speakers at Rheged; in exploring the wool, sheep and shepherding traditions of Cumbria I learnt a lot about the landscape itself… about the weather; the economics of the local wool trade; foot & mouth disease; and the politics of sharing common land.

Through projects like this I’ve found that beginning with textiles, stories and listening creates new ways of looking at places. What I find especially inspiring about this way of working is that examining textiles often provides intimate routes into discovering broader historic narratives, and are full of tactile memories and associations. You can approach social or political history by starting with a sock or a glove, and this intimately connects listeners to the content through their memories and associations because textiles are common to us all.

Knitted Speaker + Sound Map connecting wool with its stories in the Shetland landscape

A new commission on which I’m working this year for The Museum of Oxford sees me extending these ideas to different contexts and communities within Oxford. Commissioned by The Museum of Oxford and produced by OCM “The Fabric of Oxford” is a sound project that explores the history of Oxford through stories about textiles. Unlike some of my earlier projects this project will not be exclusively focused around WOOL; rather I am collecting stories from the public about all sorts of different textiles created, worn, repaired, mended, sewn, woven, bought and sold in the city. The end result will be a sonic patchwork of accounts offering little glimpses into the history of Oxford, as viewed through textile narratives.

These are some of the questions I’m asking and, with the answers, I’m planning to create a performance utilising field recordings, interviews and sounds created acoustically using objects relating to the stories I find.

Tell me about your clothes!

1. Where were they made?
2. Do you know what they are made from?
3. What do they feel like to the touch?
4. What do you like about wearing them?
5. Are these your favourite clothes? If not can you tell me about your favourite item of clothing?
6. What do these clothes make you think about?
7. Can you talk especially about the colours of your clothes?
8. Are these clothes special or party clothes?
9. Are there any traditions associated with your outfit today?
10. How do you care for these clothes? i.e. how do you wash, dry and store them?
11. Where did you buy these clothes?
12. If you made these clothes yourself, where did you buy the materials to make them and where were they sewn?
13. Are there any sounds with which you associate wearing these clothes?
14. Do these clothes make a sound?
15. What were the sounds of making or buying the clothes?
16. Do these clothes remind you of any special place in particular?
17. Can you tell me about a memory related to your clothes?

On Saturday I went to the Mela in Oxford aiming to record stories from folks in attendance. This was a bit of an experiment in turning up at an event and asking people about their favourite and party clothes. It was very rainy and therefore a bit crowded, and I felt slightly hindered by my amazing array of microphone cables and suchlike. Also, folks were there in small family groups and obviously having a lovely time, and I did not wish to invade with many questions about clothing and textiles… finally, the PA system and the busy schedule of beauteous Bollywood music and public announcements made it rather difficult to find a spot in which to make a quiet recording. It was a valuable learning day and I realised that unlike vox-pop projects which I have conducted in the past, The Fabric of Oxford questions require a little bit more time and space around them. My best interview was conducted with the incredible bellydancig ladies of Ashnah and gave me lots of ideas for sonic clothing performances… Thank you for telling me all about your amazing bell-covered, shimmying, shining, glittering and sound-rich outfits, comrades!

I am thinking hard this week about how to create a mobile recording unit that looks inviting and comfortable, and which will inspire comrades to come forth and share stories with me. It’s always hard to find exactly the right thing when working on a project like this – the best way to present your content and invite folks into your process – but I think I need some way of freeing my hands up from cables and suchlike, a way of immediately showing that I am “doing” something, and a way of communicating the textiles-focus of the mission.

I’m looking at obtaining a kind of handcart in which I can tote my microphones and fliers about, and around which I can secure articles of clothing and information boards with which to pique curiosity and interest. I am sorely temped by this kind of thing:

But alas I fear it would be crazy. I have no way of transporting it to Oxford or storing it safely there; nowhere to keep it here; and I am pretty sure that pushing it will further destroy my arthritis-inflamed hands. So I am considering the less aesthetically pleasing but rather more practical possibilities offered by this:

It is foldable and could easily live in the boot of the KNITSONIK mobile. There is room for some collapsible chairs + a table and wouldn’t that little canvas roof look amazing studded in fabric-covered badges??? I can find cunning ways to secure microphone cables to those poles at the sides, and there can be some special project bunting. I am also considering having a T-shirt made inscribed with TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR CLOTHES for when I am toting the interview station around, and am inspired by how this set-up would enable me to hit the streets of Oxford on foot in search of textile stories…

…what do you think? I am really open to suggestions about how I might create an oasis of textile contemplation at which to gather stories for this project at events in and around Oxford. Do you have any ideas about how I can sensibly achieve a mobile textile-story-gathering unit to which microphones may easily be attached, and to which you yourself would feel drawn? Finally, do you live in Oxford and have a textile story which you would like to share with this project? If so – please do get in touch!

YOURS IN ART PROJECTS,
Fx