Polly Merredew reflects on her recent Hatching Residency at The Nest.

Fragments, threads and weaving. Three little words, giving rise to many thoughts and questions.

What is my place and how am I woven into this world?

How can I bring coherence and meaning to seemingly disparate experiences?

Can I embrace imperfection as I enter a period of both material and conceptual experimentation?  Testing, failing, adapting, and growing through hands on making in a way that I haven’t for a long time.

My plan on entering The Nest was to repurpose old paintings that were discarded in my studio. Set aside as failures, worthless, rejected. Could I use patchwork and weaving as a way of healing, reinterpreting and honouring past mistakes and experiences to create something new and transformative? Did these old pieces have a value that had been previously overlooked?

I began weaving with some paint charts I created around 20 years ago. This immediately brought up more questions. Does the weave structure need to be tight and rigid or can it be open and irregular? Could the spaces between woven strips be a glimpse into something else? A hidden story, waiting to be revealed.

My paintings are rigid and tight. They are a way of finding control in my life which often feels chaotic and anything but orderly. What happens if they became more open and irregular? What if I relinquish some control? Will I unravel?

As humans we are held together by the things you cannot see.

As I delve further into patchwork I am increasingly interested in the raw edges and seams being exposed – the messy but essential part of creation, a metaphor for the unseen human experience. Seams become scars, visible markings of creation, the untold story. Strength through imperfection.

The more I explore, the more questions I have. 

I don’t have the answers to many of these questions yet. And that is the beauty of these residencies. Having a dedicated time and space to keep asking questions, playing around with the answers, finding something that fits. And of course, what feels right today, may not tomorrow.

As I leave the Nest, I feel inspired and reinvigorated to keep going on this journey. To carry on testing, failing, adapting and growing. A beautiful, never ending and essential cycle of my existence.