This tapestry is created out of three different pieces of sheer, hand-woven gauze-like fabric. The gauze panels are connected at the top which will holds the group together, but also allows the individual pieces to flow freely as separate entities. The symbolism of the triptych is meant to evoke the “maiden, mother, and the crone” or three generations of women. Behind the tapestries, I have hung three long, scroll like, pieces of paper. Each paper signifies the perspective of a generation in my family. On the first piece of paper, I compiled two lists. The top list, is a list of things my mother has taught me, whether she intentionally did so or not. The second is the same; a list of things my grandmother taught me. The second list follows the same format from my mother’s perspective: A list of things she learned from me and a list of things she learned from her mother. The last paper is from my grandmother’s perspective. She wrote a list of things she’s learned from me, her granddaughter, as well from my mother, her daughter. 

I really wanted to investigate themes of tradition, family, femininity, home, and generational trauma and therefore, generational wisdom. I’m incredibly interested in fiber arts and the traditions that exist in the realm of the fiber arts. The nature of learning a craft that is passed own through generations that brings women together is so beautiful and also under appreciated. My family is very small and has been met with a lot of obstacles that have caused a lot of emotional distancing, especially among the women in my family. Despite that, we are still a long line of crafters.  

One of the biggest things that have brought me and my mom together through the years is our shared love of crochet. She taught me how to crochet as soon as I was old enough to understand. She learned from her mother, my grandmother. For this reason, the border at the top of the tapestry will be made with a technique called “surface crochet.” The last element of this piece are the words “we cannot keep secrets from each other” scrawled in cursive, just like me and my mother’s handwriting, across the three panels. Where the words meet the end of one panel, I’ve loosely stretched the yarn across to connect to the next panel, the words forming a bridge across the three panel, the three generations.