to you 100 years into the future

"to you, 100 years into the future" is a workshop series and exhibition project focused on textile repair skillbuilding (pt i: basic sewing stitches, pt ii: darning, pt iii: patchwork, pt iv: fabric manipulation). Every Friday in June 2024, Lin hosted a mending workshop at FAR–NEAR Studio Hours, inviting participants to actively reflect upon our existing belongings and revisit sewing as a time-honored practice towards emotional healing. Participants were asked to bring 1 item to repair and 1 item to “discard” or contribute to a collective fabric stew, to be turned into a soft sculpture at the end of the workshop series. The workshops examines our personal histories that are woven into the textiles we use and examine the physical and emotional space they occupy.

The final sculpture installation takes form as a set of plush “household items” arranged in an intimate living room setting. Cut and sewn together from discarded textiles collected during the artist Helen Lin’s mending workshops at FAR–NEAR Studio Hours, they compose a fabric stew of nostalgic colors and prints made from silk, polyester, cotton, denim, and others.  Each discarded textile is given a character to play—a bowl, a table, a monitor, a potted plant, a teacup—within this newly constructed home.

In the winter of 2024, I created a website that allows you to easily see each fabric piece in its past and present state, along with the goodbye letter it was attached to.

The sculptures were created with the image of repair in mind; any  “mistakes” made while sewing were intentionally left in, threads stick out to reveal the edges and seams of its construction. The desire to build a harmonious home also illustrates the desire for domestic maintenance as a practice of emotional healing in an increasingly digital world. Upon collection, each discarded item was given a “funeral”, sent off with a goodbye letter written by the original owner. The exhibition explores the ways we transcribe our stories into permanence through the textiles that outlive us.

Textile contributions are traceable pre- and post- transformation through embroidered ID numbers. Each household item is named “titem”, a play on the words “(t)ransformed item” and “totem”, followed by an ID number. Visitors are encouraged to peruse the documentation of the transformation process and the memories recounted by contributors.

As part of the documentation process, I have 3D scanned all items pre and post transformation as well as scanned goodbye letters that participants of mending workshops have written to the items they’ve added to the fabric stew.