2024 - Thumbprint Series

This series was created during my art residency in Malta. It explores Maltese lace and how a craft that dates back hundreds of years is at risk of dying out. With a long history of Maltese lace makers, these items have both decorated Maltese lives and been an art form practiced by Maltese women for centuries. During my time in Malta, I encountered one of the few practicing contemporary lace makers who explained that there is a lot of lace on the island that is mass produced elsewhere and imported in. She went on to tell me that all handmade lace, even when made with the same pattern, will always have small differences, revealing true lace from manufactured. This inspired the Thumbprint series, which explores lace as central to Maltese identity, and like thumbprints, no two are the same. Using watered-down acrylic paint, I applied a thumbprint shape onto canvas paper. While the paint was still wet, I pressed second-hand Maltese lace into the surface, absorbing the paint in order to leave the negative space of the unique design.