Studio Orta

Lucy started hand-embroidering ‘Trajectories’ after learning that 500 tonnes of marine debris originating from the 2011 Great Sendai Earthquake and tsunami beached on the Gulf of Alaska in 2016, a five-year journey over 5,400 km (3,365 miles). Embroidery became the technique through which complex patterns of movement serve to represent the broader cultural significance of trajectories, particularly in relation to climate change and migration.

The hand embroidered motifs on linen canvas are taken from oceanographic data sourced in scientific journals. Graphs, charts and data points aligned in compositional dialogues are transformed into poetic abstractions of our planet’s constant state of flux. Embroidery knots suggest the accumulation of particles and running stitch follows the gyroscopic nature of ocean currents carrying debris on arbitrary journeys to the most remote places on Earth. Satin stitch explores the phenomenon of upwelling where wind-driven currents bring nutrient-rich water to the surface providing rich marine ecosystems; colour blocking indicates changing weather patterns where warm upwelled water erodes polar ice shelves and glaciers causing rapid and irreversible changes to our planet. The same ocean currents that carry marine debris and effect weather patterns also carry human lives drifting in makeshift boats. For Lucy, embroidery is a reflective practice taking hours and days to produce, each stitch a prayer for lives lost at sea.