Saskia van Kampen
Mending

April 30th-May 30th 2015
Reception: Thursday April 30th 2015, 7-9pm

Mending presents recent works by Toronto designer Saskia van Kampen, who uses domestic crafts such as quilting, needlework and embroidery to reconstruct the gendered body. Converting packaging and other culturally specific materials that support contemporary notions of feminine identity, the finished pieces "speak to how the media depicts and defines both public and private roles of women."

"Furthering this concept is a series of embroidered pieces in which embroidery stitches are used to cover the commodified, naked bodies of Playboy models. ... Art historian and author of The Subversive Stitch Rozsika Parker explains how embroidery “evokes the stereotype of the virgin in opposition to the whore.” As is seen in these pieces both stereotypes are represented in the artifact and in the act and both are battling with the roles society has allocated to them," says van Kampen.

More images available at www.saskiadesign.com