A lot of what it takes..., 2006
Thong underwear, bugle beads, thread
A lot of what it takes... was exhibited in conjunction with Pixels for my M.F.A. thesis exhibition at Edinburgh College of Art. This sculptural work is made from a pair of Marks & Spencer cotton thong underwear that I beaded by hand. Non-elastic beading thread had the function of spatially limiting the underwear so that they couldn't be worn, while the silver bugle beads gave a sensual weight and flashiness to the utilitarian white cotton.
The title A lot of what it takes... makes reference to the Busby Berkeley musical number "We're in the Money" performed by Ginger Rogers et al in the film Gold Diggers of 1933. Conceptually the beaded underwear related to my research about Siegfried Kracauer's The Mass Ornament and Depression-era diversions, contemporary feminism and the commodification of sexuality, as well as my focus on Craft and theme of many tiny elements having an all-encompassing effect.