Patina of Use

This piece features an orange T-shirt that serves as both canvas and artifact, bearing the residual grain and subtle markings left by a deceased painter during his time in the studio. These traces—faint smudges, creases, and wear—act as quiet witnesses to a life spent in creative labor, transforming the garment into a site of memory and presence.

Gold thread is delicately stitched across the surface, forming rhythmic, linear patterns that resemble bars of light. This back-and-forth stitching process becomes a meditative act, reworking the textile with intention and care. The glinting threads disrupt and illuminate the fabric, drawing attention to the physical and emotional texture of the material.

Through this intervention, the artwork explores the intimate relationship between cloth, memory, and identity. The stitches speak not only to the tactile history embedded in the T-shirt but also to the enduring emotional connections we form with everyday garments. In honoring the identity of the original wearer, the piece invites reflection on absence, presence, and the quiet legacy held within the seams of the familiar.