artist statement
Maze
Working with my witness on this project reinforced my perception that, to lay people, the legal system is a confusing and intimidating maze. As my witness spends her working life helping people navigate this system, she fields questions and hears comments that are frustrating and disturbing for her because she has limited means and resources to help them.
Simply getting by is a kind of maze that becomes more difficult with poverty. Finding a way through it requires resources for those working with those trapped in it.
Hand embroidery is a medium that is often associated with domesticity and the feminine, but I find it versatile and useful to talk about contemporary issues. I chose a bag shape with handles as it is a familiar textile object. A bag carries things, in this case shredded documents and rocks, an acknowledgement of the emotional weight and operational opacity of the system my witness navigates.
The questions on the exterior are paraphrased from ones she hears often. I have made them legible but not easy to read, a reflection of the system and frustrations for people enmeshed within it. Hand embroidery is personal, detail oriented, and I want it to carry the witnesses voice and the people she serves. The linen bag is quite ragged. This is a bag we need to repair.
Agency
This project has made me reflect on agency in a broad sense. My own experience with family upheaval gives me some understanding of how limited time and money can mean limited options. It made me remember my father who taught me to use tools –knowhow and resources are important in any field, and we need elders and mentors to enable us. Using the form of a bag -both sturdy and practical- and embroidering it with a range of brightly coloured tools is a celebration of hands-on DIY repair. They support the commitment and resourcefulness of those like my witness who work to help people who otherwise feel trapped and unheard.
I also wanted the tools to speak of our ability as a society to repair issues such as access to the legal system and to cobble together means for survival while one is escaping violence or trauma.
I asked my witness what she could use in her work to avoid burnout and to give her more options. I embroidered her very modest wish list on small, fabric covered boxes. I added a few items such as decolonization, gender equality and daycare. Together, the bag and its contents hold hope and possibilities.
bio
Bettina Matzkuhn creates stories about ecology, weather, and geography in her work. Using embroidery, paint, and fabric collage, she values the familiar and versatile language of textiles. Matzkuhn holds a BFA in Visual Arts and an MA in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University and is the recipient of Canada Council and British Columbia Arts Council Grants. In the 1980s, her animated films using textiles garnered awards and expanded her focus on materiality and narrative. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions across Canada, as well as in Korea and the United States. Her work is found in national public collections such as the Surrey Art Gallery, Cambridge Art Galleries and the Weldon Map Library at Western University. She lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ / sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations, where she writes professionally on the arts, teaches, and volunteers.
