Mary Corey March

(2014) Dimensions Variable (shown at  30’ x 22’ x 22’). Mixed Media Participatory Installation: hand-embroidered responses from strangers on fabric, silk embroidery floss.

For this piece I handed out self-addressed envelopes to people (mostly strangers) all over the country with instructions and information on the piece and a choice of several personal questions to answer in their own writing in a language they dream in. I then copied their responses in their handwriting and pen color in embroidery.

For me this is about the gesture of handwritten text showing more than the text alone, and the time to honor what is important to other people from many walks of life, whether I understand their stories or not.

It is also an exercise in storytelling and imagination.  As viewers moved through the space reading responses, their movement set the envelopes spinning.  As they read the envelopes, the envelopes become a moving target, both of interpretation (what question was this person answering?  What was their story?) and also physically evading their own reading.