penelope, who cares? (2021), /w henrike schmitz
'penelope, who cares?'
c-prints, plexiglas, knitted cotton textile, plexiglas,
fishing line, spool
variable dimension
in the interdisciplinary project penelope, who cares?, textile designer henrike schmitz and photographer fabian thüroff explore everyday care work in their relationship. in doing so, they renegotiate role models. the leitmotif is the mythological tale of the
wife of odysseus, who wanders the seas: penelope stays at home and interweaves figurative events and deeds. her only option to evade intrusive advances and concrete proposals of marriage lies in a kind of materially articulated refusal, which is shown by the daily unraveling of the crossed threads of the fabric. in this way, she allows her deeds to be undone in the night.
following this communication via textile material, expectations and agreements are entangled, unraveled and re-entangled in the photo-textile works. the artistic approach is characterized by a variety of techniques. in addition to the photographic products, the printed textile is also an important component of the assemblage. the recurring destruction and re-knitting of the printed yarn can be understood as a symbol of any love relationship, in which it is necessary to pick up the thread again and again. the distribution of domestic tasks is also playfully negotiated with the work.