“DOM”- Curious Duke Gallery November-December 2011
Domestication to “DOM” (abbr. to God) of a life for production value- like that of the silkworm sweat shop workers.
DOM explores the way in which we try to control the natural world around us for both work and pleasure. Many people are removed from the origins of objects we use every day, so caught up in our own existence that we do not see past our own needs.
Silk is a primary example of this, entwined with economy and jealousy, domestication and complete reliance on mankind.
A silk tie is made by 110 little lives who in the silk industry meet their fate in a oven before thy get the chance for their big reveal as moths and to carry on their life cycle.
The moths in this installation, started off as worms, which I nurtured. They have been able to emerge and live out their full life cycle- unlike those in the silk industry.
These insects were hybrid from the wild silk moth- however this breed (Bombyx Mori) are unable to live outside of man made conditions. They cannot fly and have no immune system. They are completely dependent on the hand of mankind for survival.
Joanna Rose Tidey 