Skirt 1930

This skirt was made by an anonymous artist. I love the way that textiles have a life of their own; they're not just flat images but have a physical presence that shifts and changes with movement. Looking closely, the texture of the woven threads creates an all-over pattern with a central band of red and smaller motifs. There's a rhythm, a beat to the way the colours and shapes repeat, like a song. And like a song, it feels both precise and improvisational. The materiality speaks to me of time and labour. It also speaks of a relationship with the body and the earth through natural dyes. The skirt reminds me of the work of Anni Albers, who elevated weaving to a high art form through abstraction. Like Albers, this anonymous artist shows how the grid can be a site of endless creativity and invention, and suggests the radical notion that decoration can be both profound and politically charged.