Support Structures: Fold
5”x7”
Cyanotype with cut paper and thread
By Elaine Elledge
Statement:
This set of six "support structures" depicts cut paper silhouettes of drying racks, with their delicate yet deliberate forms. The papercuts are sewn onto cyanotype backdrop. Some contain symbols of repetition and others the wildly wonderful drawings of a three-year-old child. The remaining threads are gathered up and pressed against the surface, adding organic lines that contrast with the structural forms of the collapsible drying racks.
These fragile constructions echo the functional architecture of objects designed to hold. As metaphors, they speak to the cultural frameworks that uphold everyday rituals, particularly those performed in domestic space: acts of care, maintenance, and continuity. Foldable drying racks can be precarious as they expand and collapse through repetitive use. Using this as a symbol, these artworks look at how we give and are given to in an ongoing and transformative process. The use of cut paper, a material at once ephemeral and precise, further underscores the tension between visibility and invisibility in domestic labor, offering a quiet but potent critique of what we choose to preserve, display, or discard.
Support Structures: Fold
5”x7”
Cyanotype with cut paper and thread
By Elaine Elledge
Statement:
This set of six "support structures" depicts cut paper silhouettes of drying racks, with their delicate yet deliberate forms. The papercuts are sewn onto cyanotype backdrop. Some contain symbols of repetition and others the wildly wonderful drawings of a three-year-old child. The remaining threads are gathered up and pressed against the surface, adding organic lines that contrast with the structural forms of the collapsible drying racks.
These fragile constructions echo the functional architecture of objects designed to hold. As metaphors, they speak to the cultural frameworks that uphold everyday rituals, particularly those performed in domestic space: acts of care, maintenance, and continuity. Foldable drying racks can be precarious as they expand and collapse through repetitive use. Using this as a symbol, these artworks look at how we give and are given to in an ongoing and transformative process. The use of cut paper, a material at once ephemeral and precise, further underscores the tension between visibility and invisibility in domestic labor, offering a quiet but potent critique of what we choose to preserve, display, or discard.
