ANTOINETTE MURDOCH - My hartjie my liefie
With this work, the artist took her obsession with a perfect state of being to the extreme as she continued to question identity and make work using traditionally domestic crafts.
This woven heart shape morphs into a less specific shape becoming indicative of a small dreamlike cloud. Murdoch was scrutinizing perfection at this point in her artistic career.
Reference is made to the Greek goddess Penelope who tried to avoid getting remarried by making a shroud for her aging father-in-law by day only to unravel her own weaving by night.
Weaving as well as other domestic craft are mechanical methods of making, which are often used as therapy for insanity.
