Restless Women - Playing Cards

A collaborative project following on from my final collection titled 'Restless Women' which I completed earlier this year. The project focused on the transitory nature of female identity and its involvement with memory, time, nature and the female body. As reference points within my research I looked at the works of artists, authors, designers and female creatives to endeavour to understand the female lived experience: Ana Mendieta, Leonor Fini, Francesca Woodman, Anais Nin, and Sonia Rykiel to name but a few. As part of a media presentation, I wished to embody this 'lived experienced' through found objects and started to consider what objects may have been held in the woman I am designing for's bedside table. Cards immediately came to mind for their rigidity and structure in format and play, and yet their ability to be misconstrued and interpreted, say through card readings. Therefore, I asked my friend and artist Emily Ross to help me create a pack of cards with the main female figures I referred to throughout my research process, leaving almost all creative interpretation and direction to her choice. I adore the way these cards turned out, and the ease of which Emily and I could work to fulfil a brief which was so self-led and independent of guidance - enjoy!!