Sue Stone, textile artists, stimulates us with this series I am me to wonder about identity and our urge to categorize.
This is the portrait that appeals to Sue Stone the most. It’s a portrait of a homeless person. As Sue says: “no-one knows what’s around the corner and circumstances can change overnight. It could happen to any of us”.
Individuality, distinctiveness and uniqueness form our identity. Form who or what we are.
The idea for this series came to Sue from the old adage “Never judge a book by it’s cover”.
As humans we all like to judge others. We judge about the inside based on the outside.
Outside visual decoration or types of clothing may suggest class, creed, religion or ethnicity.
The outer shell and it’s various wrappings, skin, clothing and accessories may alter and transform appearance.
Sue tries to point out that the person inside remains the same, whatever changes a person makes on the outside.
Who ever you think you see in all these images, the person portrayed remains the same throughout. It’s Sue.
Is this me also?
We all judge. We all categorize. Luckily we do. Luckily I do. Humanity wouldn’t have survived and wouldn’t exist today without this ability. To recognize danger, to separate the “good and healthy” from the “bad and unhealthy”. Latest insight from scientific research is that categorizing helps us álso to keep ourselves mentally healthy, in our world overloaded with information.
But of course we should never categorize more than needed. Here we often go wrong, when categorizing leads to discrimination, stigmatization and exclusion. With this beautiful series of art, Sue stimulates us to be more conscious about this phenomena. And to feel we are all the same because we ‘re all human.
Where to see This is me?
The series is currently being shown in Finland, Espoo, at the Espoo museum of Modern art (EMMA), expo Interwoven. It can be seen till 1 March 2020. See: https://emmamuseum.fi/en/emma-exhibitions/now/
For more information see Sue Stone’s website: http://womanwithafish.com/.
Or read my earlier post about her: http://artyembroidery.com/sue-stone-the-woman-with-a-fish/
Or read this interview with Sue: https://www.textileartist.org/woman-with-a-fish.
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For now, enjoy the arts!