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Past Mending is a new project that incorporates photo-based textile imagery derived from vintage needlepoint works to explore shifting values around labor, the value of time and consumption. The title is a deliberate play on words suggesting two possible readings: whether these works represent something so damaged or neglected that it is long past the possibility of mending, or whether it’s an attempt to repair or mend the past itself.

I recently began photographing needlepoints that depict idealized imagery of landscapes and lavish floral still-life works that are typical of handicraft kits. Over time, a highly skilled artisan tradition that originated in the 17th century evolved into a mid-20th-century hobby craft, closer in spirit to paint-by-number kits of the 1950’s. My project merges multiple craft processes by photographing the original needlepoint works, translating the images into digitally woven textiles then transforming the imagery into more abstract compositions through amplified color and patterning or alternatively dismantled into fragile, shroud-like objects. In other works, idealized landscapes featuring waterfalls are unraveled, with threads cascading beyond the image to create a collapsing illusion of material excess that offers a meditation on America’s history of abundance and loss via domestic symbols and crafts.

Waterfall, 2026

Woven textile photograph with embroidery mounted on panel, 20”x20”