Poste restante

I am contributing this large table cloth that I made to the Poste Restante project at Nomadic Village 2013. The brief was to make a piece based around nomads and the nomadic lifestyle.
jo waterhouse tablecloth photo P6022175_zps6e5205a3.jpg
standing on the sofa
The print is of a pair of cotton trousers, that I got at a car boot (naturally). They reminded me of clothes I bought when I travelled to live in Africa: they are cotton (cool for hot countries) but look awful on me. Before I went I bought clothes like that because I felt I wouldn't care what I looked like when I got there. I was ready to go to this hot place where everything was different. And when I got there a lot of things were quite the same . . . including me feeling like a proper nob in all my big cotton clothes. So I guess I chose the trousers because I'm not a nomad: I'm a rubbish traveller, I easily feel out of my depth and constantly misjudge things - especially when I travel alone.
 photo P6022178_zpsad669a5a.jpg
Doing something that isn't just holding it up.
So I chose to make a table cloth because I imagined the routine of dining as a bit of a balm to my fears of travelling. I imagined spreading the table cloth as a routine you could take from place to place, for making things familiar and easy. You could spread it on the ground, on a bench or a tree stump and host people for food.
 photo photo1_zps2a4ba58e.jpg
The trousers with the splendid gusset.
I'm pleased with the print because it is liney and wonky and blotchy but the overall pattern is bold.
 photo P6022182_zps5eb2e8d9.jpg
A portrait of Jack taken through the cloth.
And now I will send it off in the post and it will never come back. Sigh. If you fancy going to Nomadic Village maybe you could spill some wine on it from me. 

4 comments:

  1. Cool print! Love the idea of taking it away with you to make each place feel familiar and like home :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's beautiful Jo! I bet you wish you were keeping it now ;) Lovely idea though taking it with you on a journey and entertaining en route.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's gorgeous Jo, and the white pops out as 'houses' which takes the nomad theme and turns it upside down!

    ReplyDelete

Hello