Marianne O’Kane Boal views work by Emily Waszak, which examines entanglements of place, position, ancestry and family
Based in Donegal, Emily Waszak is an artist of Japanese descent. She works in textiles, sculpture and installation and has a background in industrial weaving. Her material-driven practice engages with her personal experience to reflect more widely on grief and loss.
Waszak’s textile work Peninsula (Fig 2) features layers of woven fabric with colours that reflect those of the Donegal landscape – purples, greys, blues, blacks. Fom these extend yellow cords with knotwork and pale-blue tassels that echo the fishermen’s pots and lines. This connects with later filmed research conducted by the artist into fishing practices in Japan, whereby fishermen keep cormorants to catch fish from their boats.
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