The Immigration Museum is a space to be explored. The grand marble entries of Old Customs House with sweeping staircases lead you into a journey where exhibitions are to be uncovered and stories discovered. Armed with this knowledge and the promise of viewing a contemporary lace exhibition I visited a curious exhibition, Holes. Surrounded by Thread. Curious for the fact that I was not confronted with one cohesive exhibition but with a series of three individual textile collections, that collectively attempt to survey the traditions of formal lace construction.
This exhibition 'explores the rich history and cultural significance of lace and knitwear design' locally, nationally and internationally. It does this through a defined exploration of varied technical and aesthetic possibilities of lace. The press release also states 'lace is based on patterns of negative and positive space and may be generically defined as Holes. Surrounded by thread '.
Included are new works by knitwear designer Lorinda Grant: fashion textile-maker, Historic lace from the Embroiderers Guild collection and the CraftWest touring exhibition, Lace: Contemporary Perspectives. As the contemporary and historical collections explore ornamentation through display, the exhibition overall fails to engage a dialogue. For me this was where I saw the holes emerging.
The first exhibition introduces knitwear as popular fashion. An impressive display module pens in the large collection of knitted woolen garments. Garments that have been uniquely designed to allow styles to take on various forms, from a cardigan to dress to pants. Lorinda Grant: fashion textile-maker challenges preconceived ideas of how ‘lace’ can be defined. Perhaps the inclusion of this series by Lorinda Grant is an acknowledgement of the resurgence of ‘crafted’ fashion rather than a direct relationship to lace making. In light of this resurgence, should we now consider knitwear as a form of lace making and vice-versa? The knitwear is stunning and the large display unit keeps wandering hands and eyes at a distance.
Unaided by directional signage I am at a loss as to where the remaining exhibition works are. Grant’s display begins to feel like an entrée to a main course that cannot be ordered. I must physically turn to spot further works by Grant in a distant corridor leading to further rooms considering lace.
The second exhibition considerslace asinspiration. Lace - contemporary perspectives presents the work of four craft practitioners from the UK, Japan and Australia. This commanding exhibition considers lace within contemporary perspectives. Artist Anne Farran curated this exhibition containing works from an international residency program held in the City of Melville (Western Australia). The residency invited artists who reinterpret traditional elements of lace into new media constructions.
Michael Brennand-Wood (UK), Pamela Gaunt (Aus), Anne Farren (Aus), and Suzumi Noda (Japan) reinterpret lace through a variety of media. Brennard-Wood explores lace as a status symbol of wealth and society of a lost era. He presents a series of paintings, 9 dreams within the here and now (1998-1999), which are layered with lashings of paint that appear to be embroidery looms. A closer look also reveals a layer of fabric-inlaid wood that replaces the fragility of lace.
Gaunt maintains her long standing interest in pattern structure in a series of decorated wall tiles titled, lace series #2 (2001). Gaunt plays on the positive and negative structure of lace employing textiles, lace offcuts and cut out vinyl records. Motivated by existing social structures and systems, Farren’s Imprints (2001) offers a suspended black and white fused silks or skins layered with a delicate lace undergarment (see above image). Ferran’s interest in lace is married to her belief that we exist in a complex and interconnected society. Noda takes this a step further in her installation work, Blue door and chair (2000) and removes the importance of ornamentation within society as Noda explores a ‘closed’ society in desperate need of holes. She has previously stated that, ‘today, there are so many things in our society that prevent us from coming into contact with others. If we make more room we can be flexible in thought’.
A larger version of this exhibition was first shown at CraftWest in 2001 and has since toured regionally through Western Australia and nationally to South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
The final exhibition traces the history of lace by representing diverse styles and periods. Examples of lace from England, Ireland and France have been collected by Embroiderers Guild of Victoria and highlight a history of cherished craftskills. This exhibition is a reminder of lace as an important social construct in a time when the finer details prevailed. Displayed within museum cabinets you experience an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia for this striking collection.
According to Jane Grlj, Marketing Manager of the Immigration Museum, the exhibitions offer a comprehensive overview of the art of lace from historical and contemporary viewpoints. Holes. Surrounded by Thread is a considered exhibition and presenting lace from three varied perspectives is an engaging concept. The reason it doesn’t work successfully is another matter entirely. Had I not visited the gift shop and asked staff why there was three lace exhibitions, I would not have discovered an information sheet outlining the exhibition concept and aims. I then must ask the question as to why this simple exhibition concept was not mounted to a wall two flights of stairs above in the exhibition hall. Comments such as those provided by Grlj provide assistance retrospectively but of greater assistance would have been one simple information panel stating this publicly. My hours of endless questioning endured by my companion could have been avoided.
If the responsibility of social history institutions such as Melbourne’s Immigration Museum is to highlight aspects of lace through a combination of elements, from wearable items through to social marker, then surely there is also the responsibility to initiate dialogue between these exhibitions.
Individually these exhibitions are engaging, but for me the defining element, lace does not hold them together.
