projects > fragments

One third of our life is spent in bed, lying on a mattress. It is on a mattress where life is oft-times conceived and where it may end. It is where we rejuvenate and convalesce. A mattress is both the storehouse of our dreams and the site of our nightmares.

fragments is a project I started in 1996 when I began collecting fabric from mattresses left at the curb on garbage day. All that is known about the fabric is where and when it was collected. This uncertain provenance invites the viewer to contemplate the history, real or imagined, of each fragment.

Some pieces of fabric have been left in the condition in which they were found while others have been embellished and decorated becoming glorifications of domestic situations and daily rituals.

While these embellished fragments are extremely attractive for their decorative qualities they are at the same time repellent when we consider that they are made from the fabric of discarded mattresses; mattresses that strangers have slept on, had sex on, perhaps even died on.


I am grateful to the Ontario Arts Council for its financial support of this work through the Exhibition Assistance Program.

Belleville Groovy
found fabric, embroidery floss, braid
38" x 50"
2015
Belleville Groovy - detail
found fabric, embroidery floss, braid
38" x 50"
2015
country muck-fuck
found fabric, metalic thread, glass, braid
32" x 32"
2011
country muck-fuck (detail)
found fabric, metalic thread, glass, braid
32" x 32"
2011
Halifax colour block 02
quilted: found fabric, paint, beads, rhinestones
22" x 37"
2011
Halifax colour block 02 - detail
quilted: found fabric, paint, beads, rhinestones
2011
Halifax colour block 01
quilted: found fabric, beads, sequins
32.5" x 45"
2011
Halifax colour block 01 - detail
quilted: found fabric, beads, sequins
2011
quilt 14
found fabric, beads, metallic thread, paint, pearls, rhinestones, sequins, turquoise
36” x 54”
2010
adjustment 01 
(125 Somerset Street West)
found fabric, metallic thread, paint, rhinestones
12" diametre
2007
quilt 13 
(ICA)
found fabric, sequins, braid
30" x 46"
2005
quilt 12 
(torch)
found fabric, rhinestones, braid
30" x 48"
2005
quilt 11 
(Toronto)
found fabric, beads, paint, rhinestones, sequins, braid
36" x 60"
2005
quilt 07 
(Braemore)
found fabric, beads, foil, paint, rhinestones, braid
48” x 60”
1999
quilt 05 
(Frank)
found fabric, beads, foil, paint, pearls, rhinestones, sequins, braid
54” x 54”
1999
fragment 02 
(after El Greco)
found fabric, screen printing, heat distressed
3.25" x 3.25"; 2.5" x 3.25"
1997
fragment 01 
(325 Cooper Street)
found fabric, paint, embrioidery thread, pearls
5" x 7"
1996