blue jumper by Sarah Filmer

Friday 3rd – Sunday 19th December 2021

God's House Tower, Town Quay Road, Southampton, SO14 2NY

This is how Sarah describes the inspiration behind her project:

“My mum died in December of 2006. Three and a half years later, as my degree show piece, I made a film called ‘unravel’. It is the story of a blue jumper of mum’s that we gave to the southampton working women’s project, and which I later saw worn by a street working woman. There are scenes of a blue jumper unravelling within the film – the metaphor evident to anyone who has lost a mum. It is a piece of work of which I am very proud of and it stands alone …. but the journey has continued. The me who unravelled when I lost my mum, is re-knitting her self. The desktop folder holding the work for the blue jumper is titled ‘ravel’.”

This was the origin of knit the walls and could be found in the Barker Mill Project Space on the first floor. A projected film illuminated a large, blue, knitted web which stretched across the room. Like knit the walls, the blue jumper was a participatory endeavour, knitted by over 1200 people. Participants were invited to contribute to the project further by writing about their experience and recording their thoughts onto individual cards. These records could be found alongside the other resources in the Main Gallery.

About the Artist

A gentle revolutionary, working with death, knitting, the human/non-human-animal relationship, and the status and representation of women, Sarah works individually and collaboratively with video, photography, drawing, and yarn based craft. Sarah’s work has been selected for open exhibitions, screened at national and international film festivals, and been commissioned by the national trust. She has been known to intervene with temporary works in public spaces.