Away From Prying Eyes

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Artist: Katherine Gibson

Title: Away From Prying Eyes

Attribution: Away From Prying Eyes, 2020, Kate Gibson

Year: 2020

Materials: Acrylic, Canvas, Thread, Brass

Dimensions: 132" x 72"

Image Statement: My reuse of materials and adherence to the prescribed patterns inherent in quilt-making are mirrored in the content of the magazines I read in my youth: topics vary little from month to month, the same advice given year after year. While young girls perennially look to teen magazines for guidance and comfort, they instead find troubling and manipulative messages designed to control and curb behaviors in this insidious form of pop propaganda. Within this context, I envision my blankets and cloak as safe spaces of refuge for adolescent girls to create their identities within, hidden out of view. I stitch and weave the fabrics with painstaking care, even while knowing that to trust in the protective power of my quilts is like trusting magazines to raise young women.