Minutes to Midnight is the title of the work above as well as the title for my upcoming solo exhibition at 99 Loop Gallery in Cape Town.

For a long time my thoughts centered around the words “Minutes to midnight” as a title for a possible solo show, and after many attempts, planning, and  discussions the works of the past few years (some new, some reworked) all fit together and finally I am looking forward to present the body of work soon (October 2018).

“Minutes to Midnight” is basically a continuation of my investigation of fear, which in turn lead me to the notion of time and eventually to the meaning behind the words: “Minutes to midnight” which actually refers to the symbolic clock used by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. This symbolic clock represents the countdown to a potential global catastrophe, and refers to this catastrophe as “Midnight”. It is currently standing on 2 minutes to Midnight.

Midnight in turn also reminded me about all the fairytales in which when the clock strikes 12 the magic disappears.

But before you think it is all gloom and doom in this post, I have something uplifting to share with you as well:

I found out this morning, that it is World Embroidery Day today!  I saw it on a fellow embroiderer’s Instagram account*, and decided to google it to find out more.

The origins of the World Embroidery Day date back to 30 June 2011 and was an initiative of the Swedish Embroidery Guild, to celebrate embroidery (what a wonderful idea). I even found their Embroidery Manifesto which I would like to share with you:

embroidery_manifesto_-english (1)

Or you can visit this website to Download in 5 other languages:

http://www.broderiakademin.nu/worldembroideryday/

So I would like to celebrate and wish you a wonderful “World Embroidery Day”. Until we speak again – happy stitching!

Footnotes and links:

*The fellow embroiderer I mentioned is: Nicole O’ Loughlin and there is a lovely interview with her on the Fiber Studio’s blog. click here

*Early this year the “Doomsday Clock” reach 2 Minutes to Midnight…the closest ever…you can read more about it here

or visit the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists website… here

*You may download the Embroidery Manifesto here

*For more details about my upcoming solo you can watch this space or contact the gallery 99 Loop, see here

*The photographer of my artwork is Kleinjan Groenewald, you can visit his website here