Good Grief?

Good Grief? Exhibition

Jacqui’s current work has witnessed a great change in style following the death of her husband from cancer. Over the period of a year she collected a selection of old handkerchiefs – impregnated with the tears and grief of past generations. On these, with her small scale delicate hand stitching, she chooses now to reveal graphically her own personal thoughts and feelings.

The intimacy and freedom of her hand stitched line helps her to work ‘spontaneously’ putting her ideas onto the fabric – sometimes against photographic images - using multiple techniques and materials.

Death remains a taboo in our society despite being a constant headline, and grief is the painful but unavoidable consequence. The title ‘good grief’ reflects Jacqui’s acceptance of the grieving process as being an essential part of bereavement, and that expressing loss can be a positive, cathartic experience.

The work consists of fifteen framed handkerchiefs each with a different, related theme. Click on the images below to see a larger version. Click here to download a leaflet about this exhibition.

The poems are a personal expression of grief, the words are those that have impacted Jacqui over the year and the Bible verses are those that have been instrumental in her efforts to grasp the enormity of death. They all depict a ‘sense of the moment’ as the public and private faces of grief oscillate over time …

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