Future Traditions: Time-travelling (Install)

Time-travelling

Textiles and domestic artefacts survive as records of events and lives, and as cultural and technical knowledge, which might otherwise be lost. They record both intimate and individual perspectives, but also document global news, survival strategies and cultural phenomena, transporting these into the future. Importantly, domestic textiles hold intergenerational links in their stitches and their traditions, and these connect us all across time. From our mothers or grandmothers, aunts or grandfathers, we inherit and learn actions and materials that link us to our 'intergenerational self'. As psychologist Marshall Duke has observed, this knowledge enables not only personal resilience but also, in children, the understanding that 'they belong to something bigger than themselves'. The intergenerational self, of knowing oneself beyond one lifetime, is a perspective that acts as a reminder of our responsibilities and living with care.