Migdale Kilt
Title: Migdale Kilt
Size: 212cms w x 80cms h
Date: 2006
MIGDALE KILT This tapestry is constructed to resemble a kilt and shows a reflected landscape and sky with the tartan of the Sutherland clan flowing through it. It was woven with a series of vertical slits which when slightly overlapped at the top became the pleats of the kilt. This also creates the slightly curved kilt shape.
A walk in autumn through a forest to a quiet still lake inspired this tapestry. I was thinking about the people who once lived and farmed this now completely uninhabited landscape. I was also thinking about the relationship between identity and land, as expressed in Scotland through our traditional tartan cloth. Each tartan identifies the wearer as being from a particular place and family. The colours are derived from the dye-plants that grow locally and the patterns are symbolic representations of events from the history of the clan. So in wearing your tartan you are also wearing your land and your whole cultural heritage. I wove the tartan of the Sutherland people appearing and disappearing amongst the reflections of the trees that now cover their villages and fields.