Self Portrait

yarn, monks cloth, glue

2021

For sale through my online shop.



Rugs, often associated with comfort or sanctuary, have a tactility that is often found within domestic spaces. Freya seeks to redefine our preconceived ideas surrounding domesticity. By re-interpreting the traditional aesthetic of the medium, Freya is challenging the heteronormative stereotypes of the craft. On the rug, four shadow-like red figures, jagged like lightning bolts, clasping onto chains, surround a vignette of the artist’s self-portrait. Depicted as a sunflower on a motorbike, they are restlessly riding, engulfed by wind and sky. A place inbetween, the tarmac sweats in the sun's shadow and a strip of green grass melds into the sunset-coloured sky. Around the edges of the work, black squares echo the chequered flag of a racing line, yet there is neither start nor finish; made during the pandemic, the work reflects the artist’s then-unattainable desire for a world outside the stillness of four walls.