BA (Hons) Textile Design
Liam Saunders
In response to the oppression, detainment and murder of LGBT+ community members in Russia, Erasure seeks to record a testimony of those affected and explore themes of absence/presence, falsehood, communication, worth, containment and positive/negative space. Inspiration has been drawn from the many international activist responses to these human rights violations.
Erasure explores aspects of personhood dominant culture discards, reflected in the choice of repurposed materials, as well as the distortion of identity and the self through covering and obscuring the face. Many balaclavas and face coverings have been knitted, crocheted and constructed responding to the events, anonymity symbolic of victims unknown and those removed from society.