Joanna Rogers
Ozymandias — –.. -.– — .- -. -.. .. .- …, 2025
Wool dyed with lobster mushrooms, zinnias, marigolds, st. john's wort, japanese maple leaves 6" x 1044"
Like Shelley’s poem Ozymandias (first published in 1818), my Ozymandias is a meditation on power, tyranny, hubris, the rise and fall of empires and states, and the lasting legacy of art. My piece adds an additional layer by referencing the longevity of Shelley’s still-popular sonnet. I translated the poem into morse code and knitted this code to create my 87’ long Ozymandias, which cryptically documents the political events and upheavals in both the US and Canada as they unfolded during its creation from October 2024 through to December 2025. I dyed the wool with plants from my yard: lobster mushrooms, zinnias, marigolds, St. John’s Wort flowers, Japanese Maple leaves. Knitting conjures up images of comfort and warmth and these associations make the subject matter even more poignant. Ozymandias celebrates knitting as art.
Joanna Rogers
Margot Venton’s War Belt, 2026
Contact (eco) printed mercerized cotton thread and japanese kimono cotton using locally grown plants. 22" x 38"
Margot Venton started to volunteer with Ecojustice as a researcher on some of the organization’s earliest cases while still in law school. She went on to work as a summer student and articling student before being called to the bar in 1998. Margot become an Ecojustice staff lawyer that same year. Margot Venton's war belt reflects her commitment to the environment and her work seeking an ecologically healthy future for the flora, fauna and people of British Columbia and Canada. I translated the poem Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats into morse code and knotted it into the threads of the war belt. This poem celebrates the beauty of nature and the poem, in turn, is celebrated by many who read it. However, we are still failing to protect nature itself believing, perhaps, that feeling moved by a poem is enough.
Joanna Rogers
Emily Carr’s War Belt, 2025
Mercerized cotton dyed with logwood, cutch, sappanwood, madder, cochineal, pomegranate, marigold, myrobalan, chestnut, quebracho, heal all, japanese maple leaves, garry oak leaves, st. john's wort, iron and indigo on painted canvas 21" x 40"
Emily Car (1871 - 1945) was a Canadian post-impressionist painter. She was born in Victoria, British Columbia and lived there most of her life. She finally came to the attention of the Director of the National Gallery of Canada in 1927 and was invited to participate in an exhibition featuring West Coast art. This introduced her art to a much broader audiance and cemented her place in the canon of Canadian art. Emily Carr's War Belt contains the poem Jerusalem by William Blake knotted in morse code into the threads. This alludes to the restrictive English customs and Presbyterian traditions adhered to by her parents, especially her father, which Emily was able to transcend. the Director of the National Gallery of Canada, Eric Brown, in 1927 and was invited to participate in an exhibition featuring West Coast art.
Joanna Rogers
Mary Riter Hamilton’s War Belt, 2025
Mercerized cotton dyed with logwood, cutch, sappanwood, madder, cochineal, pomegranate, marigold, myrobalan, chestnut, quebracho, heal all, japanese maple leaves, garry oak leaves, st. john's wort, and iron on painted canvas 21" x 40"
Mary Riter Hamilton (1867 - 1954) was a Canadian impressionist painter who travelled to Europe in 1919 in order to paint the battle fields and burial grounds of the First World War. Her astounding body of work is housed in the Canadian Library and Archives having been passed over by the National Gallery. This peice contains the poem In Flanders Fields by Canadian physician John McCrae translated into morse code and knotted into the threads. This poem has come to epitomize the war in the trenches while Mary Riter Hamilton's visual record is almost unknown.
Joanna Rogers
Boudicca’s War Belt, 2023
Linen dyed with marigolds and indigo 20" x 42"
Inspired by paleolithic string skirts and Incan quipus, this war belt contains the entire poem Ave Atque Vale (Hail And Farewell) by Catullus in Morse Code. The original Latin poem is in marigold and the English translation is in indigo. Each string is a letter and the knots represent the dots and dashes - a large knot is a dash and a small knot is a dot.
Joanna Rogers
Hippolyta’s War Belt, 2023
Mercerized cotton dyed with iron and tannins on painted canvas 19" x 41"
Mercerized cotton hand dyed with iron and tea. Canvas painted with Cassel Earth. Vintage velvet ribbon and button. Hand woven, knotted and sewn. Inspired by paleolithic string skirts and Incan quipus, this war belt contains the entire poem Anthem For Doomed Youth by Wilfred Owen in Morse Code. Each string is a letter and the knots represent the dots and dashes - a large knot is a dash and a small knot is a dot.
Joanna Rogers
That Last Onset – …. .- – .-.. .- … – — -. … . –, 2022
Mercerized cotton warp and tabby weft dyed with pomegranate, quebracho and iron. Silk boucle pattern weft dyed with weld and eastern brazilwood. 15" x 180"
That Last Onset has been translated into morse code and woven into this piece both horizontally and vertically. It comes from the poem I heard a Fly buzz - when I died - (591) By Emily Dickenson and like the other pieces in this series, laments the extinction of species due to human impact on habitat and the climate. By translating morse code from sound to visual representation it allows us to see what we cannot hear.
Joanna Rogers
I Am Not There .. .- — -. — – – …. . .-. ., 2024
Mercerized cotton warp and tabby weft, linen/cotton pattern weft. Dyed with logwood and cutch. 13" x 180"
I Am Not There comes from the poem Dream 3: Night Bear Which Frightened Cattle from The Journals of Susanna Moodie by Margaret Atwood. I translated this phrase into morse code and wove it both horizontally and vertically using a summer and winter pattern. This phrase could be the last words uttered by our endangered species as they become extinct.
Joanna Rogers
I Will Arise .. .– .. .-.. .-.. .- .-. .. … ., 2023
Mercerized cotton, silk 16" x 15'
This is one of ten weavings which comprise The Chorus. The warp and tabby weft are dyed with plants from my yard while the pattern weft is dyed in indigo. Each weaving in The Chorus contains a message in morse code which is woven into the structure of the piece using a traditional summer and winter pattern. This piece contains the message I Will Arise from the poem The Lake Isle Of Innisfree by Yeats. The phrases I have chosen to weave in this series are all exhortations our endangered species could be silently screaming as they go extinct.
Joanna Rogers
Our Last Cry — ..- .-. .-.. .- … – -.-. .-. -.–, 2023
Mercerized cotton, wool, 17" x 15'
This is one of ten weavings which comprise The Chorus. The warp and tabby weft are dyed in indigo while the pattern weft is dyed with madder, marigolds and sappanwood. Each weaving in The Chorus contains a message in morse code which is woven into the structure of the piece using a traditional summer and winter pattern. This piece contains the messgae Our Last Cry from the last morse code message sent by the French navy in 1997. The phrases I have chosen to weave in this series are all exhortations our endangered species could be silently screaming as they go extinct.
