Threads of Empathy, Knotting the Unseen

Abstract

Threads of Empathy, Knotting the Unseen, make the connection between physical labor and women's unseen emotional work visible. This paper examines cotton cords made by women in Punjab, Pakistan, in an intensive method of knotting and braiding which emerges from everyday acts like making hair braids or tying a knot to get dressed. The research-based installation consists of Knotted Bodies, Braided Body, and Unfolded components. Taken together, they are a confrontation of childhood memories and a metaphor for healing. The specific working process in this thesis is knotting cotton ropes and braiding human hair. As I think about memories, childhood experiences, and the physicality of my body, knotted cords function as a bridge between current reality and memory. The working process engages several questions: First, how can I empathize with my body? Second, how does the skin maintain physicality and absorb memory? And finally, how does an invisible layer of memories over the skin constrict and hold the body together? While processing specific materials in the studio, I think about the mental patterns that control perceptions and interpretations.