The brief seemed to suggest the fabric squares would be sewn together, or incorporated into a larger patchwork in some way, where the many seperate elements are brought together in a random configuration. I wanted to plan my squares specifically to benefit from this configuration, and to lend it further conceptual merit. In order to represent these themes of threat and instability, I also wanted to demonstrate a lack of biodiversity, particularly on our own home turf where many people may believe the British ecosystem is a stable one, without the exotic threats of far flung environments. This is of course completely untrue, and there are many threats which British ecosystems face even in the domestic territories of England. One of the most subtle and generally undetected ways our ecosystem is being destabilised is with the prevalence of invasive species, many of which were brought to England during colonialism, when we introduced many new organisms to our ecosystem for qualities such as decoration or functional use, before we understood the further reaching implications this would have for our ecosystem.
One of these plants in particular was Japanese Knotweed, or Polygonum cuspidatum, a large herbaceous species with broad green leaves and thick red notched stems which bear unrelated resemblance to bamboo (see left). For these decorative features, the plant was brought from it's native habitat in East Asia into Europe, where it was favoured for it's bamboo-like appearance and ability to flourish anywhere. However aided by water and travel networks, the plant quickly spread beyond it's intended locations. Knotweed grows quickly, and the stems from each growth remain across each new year, allowing these plants to cluster in dense shady populations of foliage, crowding out any other plants which may have existed there previously. The plant can adapt to a wide spectrum of soil types, pH and salt levels. It is listed by the World Conservation Union, as one of the worlds worst 100 invasive species, and not only causes widespread ecological instability, but also has an aggressive root system which can disrupt and destroy architecture and road systems, and also increases risk of floodingg along riversides where it flourishes.
When cut, the plant regrows vigorously at the base (see above), and it's roots can extend up to 7 m horizontally and 3m deep, making digging out extremely difficult. Because of this, once established, the Knotweed is very difficult to remove, and poses a real threat to British hedgerows as we know them (see right for large knotweed growth, lacking biodiversity). In the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981, it became an offence to 'plant or otherwise cause to grow in the wild' Japanese Knotweed, aswell as a whole host of other plants listed in Schedule 9, Part II of the act. As is so often the case with the animals and plants which feature in my work, they are classic symbols of misinformation and human meddling in the pursuit of aesthetics, which then leads to dire consequences. Nowhere else in natural life would a plant be transmitted to another ecosystem in such a purposeful manner, and then become able to spread so quickly, unfettered for so long by any kind of regulation or recognition. Our objectifying vanity has quickly turned around to bite us, and there is something poetic about the idea that a plant we uprooted from it's native territory to stand as ornament in our gardens should flourish and promptly begin to cause great damage to buildings and infrastructure. This could be an interesting dialogue to explore in my piece. 
I wanted to depart from my normal medium to really get in the spirit of this collaboration, and chose to use green felt and thick red rope to create the leaves and stem of these plants. I hoped that rendering these leaves in fabric will give them a more natural, lifelike quality, and will for a more organic arrangement of the pieces. Once I had cut a large selection of leaves in different sizes, I then stitched over them with some simple embroidery to suggest vein structure and shape.
This also textured the leaves and gave them depth. This looked very effective on some, but I also chose to leave some with more simplistic, suggestive forms. I felt like this also gave some appreciation to the medium, allowing for larger swathes of uninterrupted felt, and softness. As this was a medium I didn't usually work with, I wanted to fully explore the properties of the material whilst creating an artwork which was still suggestive and potentially educational.
Now I had several key elements of the work in progress, I tested some trial arrangements against the fabric squares, to check I had enough to fill the piece and also try some natural compositions whilst making sure the pieces looked unique to one another. I also wanted to suggest how the work was spreading out and creeping over certain areas, and so tried to arrange the rope in a way which would allow gravity to pull some of the leaves across other areas of the final assembled artwork. 
Although in these pictures the light and dark ropes are just gently intertwined, I want to sew the induvidual branches together to give some of the notched effect on the stem. It is also something unique to this fabric medium, that any fabric can in some way stitched to another fabric, it opens up many new sculptural opportunities.
I also felt that these squares were too light here, and lacked the threat element I sought. I blocked the entire background in watered down black acrylic. This allowed me to build up the colour gradually. I really liked this effect, as it also had connotations of the suffocating nature of the dense shade that these plants create.
Next I began to cut and affix the stems together, and then the leaves to the stems. I tried to give the leaves as much three dimensional depth as I could, curving and gathering them to help them bend away from the fabric. Felt was the perfect material for this as it has just enough rigidity to hold a curve when gathered, and allowed me to easily make small cuts and resew to tighten the edges and give structure.
I was also being aware throughout of the 2cm border we were required to leave so as to allow the works to be sewn together. I had left the background edges raw, hoping that atleast some of the rawness would still be seen when sewn. I hoped that when sewn, whoever was overseeing that would see to it that the leaves were left above the sew line to achieve the desired effect, and planned to speak to the curators about these intentions.
Overall I was really pleased with these outcomes. It had been a really pleasant exploration outside my main media, and something about working with the soft, responsive materials of fabrics had been a very tactile and enjoyable experience for me. I definitely felt a change in relationship between creator and object from working on a painting to creating an applique tapestry such as this. I can only assume this comes with the barrier of touch and the object; with a painting, very rarely are any of the materials besides a paintbrush actually touched, whereas the act of both machine and hand sewing and embellishing requires a lot of touch. When coupled with the soft feel of fabrics, this leads to a very different creative experience, which registered very strongly with me. I would like to potentially explore other fabrics in the future, however they are difficult to take to a public format, aside from obvious examples such as yarn bombing, and in general do not do well outside. It could definitely be interesting for me to explore further however, even as a potential practice outside of my professional sphere, but as a process I undertake for personal enjoyment. I am really excited to see the whole project come together and be hung!
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