Gardening Gloves: Memories of November (2022)

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Artist: Sharon Peoples

Title: Gardening Gloves: Memories of November (2022)

Attribution: Gardening Gloves: Memories of November, 2022, Sharon Peoples

Year: 2022

Materials: Rayon polyester thread, linen, cotton, mixed media

Dimensions: 28" x 15" x 14"

Image Statement: Gardening Gloves: Memories of November Sharon Peoples’ work explores gardens and gardening: the inner secret garden, artists’ gardens, public gardens, and gardens of the imagination. Her ‘garden’ includes the bush reserves, local hills and national parks that she walks. Fragility of both the environment and the human condition is reflected in the medium: stitching, as a metaphor for repair. During the 2020 lockdowns, she worked constantly in her own garden. Her hands are one of the most important organs as a maker. Protecting them from the ravages of dirt with gardening gloves became a daily practice. Soon the gloves became a vehicle for studio work, demonstrating self-care and care of the environment layered with imagery from her regular walks. In December 2021 the bogong moth was added to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. She has been stitching bogong moths into lace-like ‘gardening gloves’ commenting on the astonishing estimated 99.5% decrease in the migration number of the moths, as they pass from Queensland, Australia through to the high country in the south of the country in November. She misses the evening fluttering on the windowpanes as the weather warms towards summer.