Robyn-Tayla Meikle

Artist Catalogue

Virtual Exhibition

Group Catalogue Site

Knit me whole again

At its’ core, my work deals with domestic violence and my past experiences with it. Through process-based art and performance art I allow myself to work through my experiences.

Rooms within the household have specific meanings to each individual, for some a dining room is a space of family gatherings, whilst for others it is a space of  violence. Furniture within the home is the silent witness of violence. It is the one constant in a turbulent environment. In my body of work, I inflict violence onto these objects that were once witnesses. After violently deconstructing objects, I painstakingly repair each piece by sticking the broken fragments together. This process is slow and time consuming.  The dining room symbolizes the family within the domestic space and how it appears to be “perfect”. The two bedrooms are children’s rooms. The home space is the one place where you are supposed to feel nurtured and safe, when that is taken away from you it affects you on a level many do not understand. Although with time you do heal, just as the broken furniture, you are forever changed by your experiences. 

I then use the performative action of knitting as a form of solidifying safety. Using the medium of wool and the action of knitting, something so stereotypically yet distinctly feminine, I “knit” the furniture back together. The handmade wool fully encompasses the damaged objects. I take something so jagged and violent and mend it with something that is so gentle and nurturing. The wool represents safety, security and the feminine energy within the domestic space. Family violence primarily affects women and children, so by using wool and the knitting technique I am connecting the strength of the victims with the strength of the wool and the act of knitting. Bringing the wool into the piece showcases how violence and trauma can be nurtured and repaired. The wool itself is large. All the wool present is handmade and is very time consuming and a tiresome process. I sew the fabric into tubes, turn them inside out and then stuff them with sheets of batting I have cut. All the wool present is at least +100m in length and is knitted together with my body. I must use my arms to knit the heavy wool and my body tires during the process. I fully immerse myself into my pieces because my body and its experiences are an integral part of the work as a whole. I use my own body to knit, I become the needle. The piece becomes an extension of myself and my own journey. The process is equally, if not more important than the outcome. Through video performance I document this process as a way of showcasing the importance of my own body being a part of the work. The 28-minute performance is tiresome but therapeutic. Once a site of trauma is now a site of healing. The deconstructed furniture and wool manifest into one piece. The wool holds the furniture together as a way of nurturing trauma and moving on from the past. 

Domestic violence is almost always gendered and exists far beyond the home space. In a second performance piece I can be seen walking the route I take home every day. During this performance I wear a garment made from my wool as a means of protection. The wool acts as armour against violence within society that is perpetrated against women.  The piece can be viewed on a tv screen in what would be the living room in my installation. My piece as a whole speaks about violence within the home space, but this performance piece can be viewed as a window to the outside world where violence against women is just as prevalent as it is in the home space.

As I knit the furniture together, I am reclaiming the notion of what a home is to me and how I wish to exist in it. It is difficult to move past trauma but through using my body as the tool, I create room for healing.