Cathartic Thread

1000amour uses her own body as the core material in Cathartic Thread, delicately weaving coloured strings through her palm’s skin. Her work combines alternative healing methods of chromatherapy, acupuncture, and hand reflexology, and seeks to create a healthy and knowledgeable relationship to one’s body. Our world has rapidly done away with physicality, with the simple act of touching now posing a threat. The kaleidoscope of string embroidered into the artist’s hand recalls the necessity of physical presence. Moreover, we have been predisposed to have negative and conflicting self-images, leading us to hate our bodies and neglect their dynamism. Cathartic Thread is an act of resistance to our shift to virtual life — renewing the body’s power as an essential source of knowledge and feeling.

1000amour acts as her own caretaker, and insists in the resilience of physical presence. She inflicts physical pain, yet does so through the calming, meditative process of embroidery. Rather than encouraging this pain, she understands its inevitability in the human experience and seeks to adapt it. The contradiction between the resulting pain and pleasure illuminates the necessity of examining one’s inner self in order to rebuild. When we literally ‘embody’ our emotions and experiences, we reclaim control of our own bodies and our own pains. It is through this process that we may discover our own self-healing.