THREAD was presented during the spring edition of the 2017 Textile Symposium by Textielcommissie Nederland. During the intense 10 minutes a story unfolds in the language of body, textiles and music.
Thread, Alya Hessy, 2017. Photo Erna Sambeek
First there was a dot
The dot continued into a line
The line became a thread — an offer of possibilities
The thread was wound upon itself
— looping
layering
enveloping —
Forming a sphere of potential
The sphere
Marked a place in space
Just being there
It appeared to be resting
Lengths and lengths of potential concentrated in
A dot in space
Was the dot lonely?
Was there some longing for a touch?
Was it even
Self-aware?
You stood there
Watching the sphere of potential
Considering the possibilities
It is hard to know where to start
The perfect loops layered upon one another
Didn’t reveal any entrance
No opening
No way to get a grip
Perfection does not tolerate deviance
The end (or was it the beginning?) slipped out
of the sphere
Breaking
its
perfect
self-containment
You grabbed this
trace
of
imperfection
And suddenly
There was
No you
No sphere
No separation
No vain hopes
No uncertainty
No loneliness
Potential deserves its name
For it can be realised
Your hands
Knowing what to do
Continued
looping
going in
going out
As you moved along
A new beginning (or was it the end?)
started growing
Marking the work of your hands
Marking your connection with the potential
Marking that you have been
In this world
Some call it art
Some call it craft
In the end it’s just life
You saw the potential
and realised it.
The Dutch version of this poem appears in a publication Studies in Textiel:
Kunst en Textiel by Textielcommissie Nederland ISBN: 9789082128864