He Came To Tea

I use traditional crochet techniques alongside traditional drawing methods to explore memory and the various relationships within my family lineage. 

 

My Spanish maternal grandmother taught me how to crochet from an early age, so crochet and drawing were always part of my childhood. I combine the two together to reconstruct and recall the past and to continue these dialogues and recollections, keeping a connection to my family and Spanish heritage. 

 

I would sit with my mother and grandmother, and we would crochet, knit, sew or embroider together. Sharing skills was our ‘dialogue’. It was a way to communicate, pass down knowledge and to strengthen our bond as a family. 

 

Today these memories live on in my artwork preserving family bonds and holding a connection to my past. 

 My mother would often recount stories of days gone by. She had a German gentlemen pen pal, and they would exchange many letters before he finally visited her for tea in the small Spanish village in Catalonia. He was blonde and good looking she recalled, but sadly the relationship had not gone any further. Later my mother would go on to meet my father from a neighbouring village. He came from a large farming family. They married and soon after I was born, they started their new life together travelling to England and settling in London, and her German friend became a distant memory.

Crochet Cotton and Pencil on Paper

62x46x4cm