Alice Hutchinson

image transfer, cotton box canvas
21cm x 30cm x 2
Title: Visiting Granny

Pipilloti Rist recognises handbags significance as containers of people’s lives with “room in them for everything: painting, technology, language, music, lousy flowing pictures, poetry, commotion, premonitions of death, sex, and friendliness”. The work reveals hidden identities highlighting the differences between women born in different centuries, reigns, and social classes. The process of transferring images to fabric gives a grainy and worn finish, suggesting the time passed since they died.

One of a woman born into a middleclass Victorian family, educated, musical, religious and regular church attender. Before and after marriage she worked only voluntarily or giving private music lessons. The bag handles create a church roof and within are images of a “Christ” figure, a monk and a woman’s face beside the catch on the left side resembles my grandmother. The other is the bag of a woman born into an Edwardian working class family, of limited education, who worked from 13 to over 60. She wore makeup and was no stranger to pubs and clubs. She was not religious. The flower shaped glass necklace belonged to her and her vitality is summed up in its reflected blue sparkle.

“The exposure to a range of thoughts and approaches from the different tutors and the frequent explanations of the work of other artists, during the teaching on the particular topic or medium, has been my greatest gain from the course and influential in the development of my personal project.”

STUDENT SHOWS

Alice Hutchinson