John Westmark: On the Fold

Using delicate paper sewing patterns applied directly to canvas Westmark creates strong female protagonists, often stoic martyrs, fantastical beings or the hapless everywoman. Westmark embellishes the garment patterns with custom text inspired by feminist writing, creating a conceptual narrative alongside the existing assembly instructions to complete the familiar dialogue presented to women throughout history. The viewer is asked to read both the text embedded surface and the pictorial narrative as a whole to disrupt the stereotypical notion of women’s work in order to create a feminist dialogue in the visual conversation.