Heidi Carlsen-Rogers

Thread cascades from my floral photographs and tapestries as if nature itself is unraveling.

By a Thread is a current series exploring areas of our world that are fragile, fraying or coming apart. The work represents in a visual way how our social, political and environmental landscapes are weakening.

In this work, floral photographic tapestries are being dismantled or mounds of thread are being added to flower imagery. The act of unravelling speaks to how things have been coming undone “one thread at a time” while the additive threads are intended as a gesture of mending.

As our cultural landscapes continue to divide and fray, the metaphor of a garden, idyllic and beautiful, reflects hope of an optimistic outcome, a return to connectedness and wellbeing.

This series aims to facilitate a pause and moment of self-reflection to consider: Are we contributing to the mending or fraying of our world?

My concern about our wellbeing as a culture raises the question of what role can my work play in addressing what is damaged or broken?

Using the familiarity of flowers can lead into deeper subjects/dialogue and cultivate a moment for reflection, understanding – the possibility of an internal shift leading to external change.