mother's milk.

embroidered heart by andrea dezsö

tonight our friend melissa invited us out to an instalment of the adult education lecture series at union hall in brooklyn. we had been to the series with meilssa before and had a great time so it was a soft sell. i am really glad we did attend. centred around the loose theme of 'unconventional wisdom,' i was particularly blown away by the lecture by andrea dezsö, who presented an embroidery series she had made in 2006 based on the terrifying warnings and beliefs her mother had passed down to her during her transylvanian youth (click through the 'embroidery' section of her website to browse parts of this collection). greasy foods must be eaten with bread lest cold sores erupt, cold surfaces can bestow female cold (with symptoms including stds), fasting cures aids. these teachings, both comical and terrifying, are so pointedly portrayed by dezsö in skillfully embroidered panels. the link between the care taken in making these pieces and the care her mother must have felt in passing down this information seemed so finely linked - like nothing could be more obvious or clear. and i am always keen on the use of handcraft to portray human links to the past and/or cultural history. i highly recommend a perusal of her website. dezsö's practice is my no means constrained to needlework. she has dipped into paper cuts, book works and ceramics to express her unique visions of the world.

also on the bill tonight was a presentation by andrew beccone of the reanimation library. some of the wisdom passed along in his talk was entirely incomprehensible - weird, earnest nonsense culled from the libray's large collection of defunct and off-trend thought. we are really hoping to plan a visit to the library on this trip. if we do, you can bet you will hear about it.

my head is full!