Tassel On Tassel

Tassel on Tassel was an installation at Le Petit Versailles community art garden in the LES, Manhattan. The installation was an exploration of the humble tzitzit, ritual fringes in Judaism that evolved from once decorative embroidery to vessels of sacred symbolism.

More about this work

'Beaded Curtain' was the entrance piece to this installation.  As a child, a lot of the houses in the predominantly working-class suburbs of London where I grew up had beaded curtains separating the kitchens. I used to sit in the doorways, getting in the way of everyone, holding and touching these tassels. It was something sacred to me, a way of escapism through touch. I wanted to use the curtain as a threshold into a different realm—a kind of Annubis-like chamber. The materials range from natural colored stones to what I refer to as ‘the Beyonce beads,’ glitterbox disco balls, to more nuanced metal chains, each beaded thread representing a different part of my life and aesthetic.

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want, but You Keep Coming Back For More” is created with woven macrame cotton. It speaks to the idea of our lives as entangled but not straightforward. It was at a time when I was thinking heavily about the emotional cost of a romantic relationship and that every relationship, no matter how sacred, is bound by forces of gravity and form. 

Tin Lines are a pair displayed together, created with upcycled copper. They are variations on the traditional tzitzit, which are usually made with cotton and hung from Tallit (Jewish prayer shawls). Traditionally, when you touch tzitzit, you are meant to connect to and be reminded of, the sacred. As a queer person, metal (in the form of jewelry) has become a sacred signifier in my life. I wanted to make an ode to the sacred and metal with this piece, which also speaks to the idea of timelines. Each copper thread is a potential timeline in the piece, a what if? The title is also a play on ‘thin’ line (s), a reference to the thin veil between the natural and the sacred.

‘Holy Kinks’ are a pair displayed together, created with nylon and polyester rope. The sculptures explore the idea of fabric as a conduit to the sacred, a linear vessel which is wound in a vertical line. The title is also a play on kink as something physical but also sexual, a reference to the relationship between BDSM, bondage, religion, and sexuality. The symbolism of bondage through religion, being tied and bound to a deity, is explored here, as is the whip-like shape of the pieces, another reference to bondage and slavery, one that could be interpreted through a historical lens, specifically the slavery and exile of the Israelites in biblical times, or a sexual lens, used in a master, slave, sexual domination scenario.