Shira Gold
By A Thread | Nights consumed by thoughts that swing between hesitation and hope, always questioning. In the face of darkness and uncertainty, how do we choose to step into the light?
The isolating experience of a global pandemic upended my relationship with space, time, and community. Feelings of isolation evolved into a solitary sanctuary – a residence of self-exploration and reflection. Then, amid variants and opposing viewpoints, I was told to let go of my masks and reveal myself to the outside world as we all stepped into a revised normal.
Regulations intended to guide and protect us have highlighted the significant moral and political divisions that cut through our social worlds. How do we heal? The ever-evolving reactivity and adjustments to our daily life and the trepidation of shifting towards the new were the inspirations and catalysts for this body of work.
By a Thread is a response to the uncertainty of transition, deconstructing the feelings that arise in response to tightening and loosening rules. It reflects on humanity’s need for order in the face of disorder, and the sense of uncertainty we feel as we navigate those conflicting impulses within our selves and our society. Oft maligned, moths evoke a sense of rebirth and regeneration, with an innate pull towards liberation through their symbolic and transformative beauty. After such a prolonged period of blackout, we too are called to leave the haven of our cocooned worlds behind. In this transition, we are drawn instinctively to the dawn and the hope that it brings, a promise that until now has been just beyond reach.
Conceived amid Covid in the fall of 2020, By a Thread reacts to a “moth outbreak” that besieged Vancouver’s lower mainland. After much evolution, the series finally concluded in synchronicity with the easing of pandemic mandates. In keeping with earlier series, the imagery of By a Thread expresses a shared experience through visual metaphors. Semi-transparent moths are delicately suspended while taut, artificial threads delineate rules and safety orders, a gesture towards our tenuous relationship with the future. Haphazard strings intersect, disrupting the certainty of our path and signifying discord. Silk fibres illustrate a natural arrhythmia that complicates the emerging present.
As with the luminescence of the moths’ wings against the backdrop of negative space, we too have within ourselves the capacity to take flight and move forth. www.shiragold.com
