With this piece of applique and sashiko I used the 'Little Red' figures as arrows to point along the paths. I chose the printed fabric on the paths as I thought it looked like hair. The blue watery print as tears. The wolves eyes are mother of pearl one a beguiling flower, the other an evil slit.
So much of the little red fable is concerned with loss of innocence, the persistent threat of, and real, danger to young females, and coming of age. The paths that we take in life are so often arbitrary and yet when you are younger they have so much impact on shaping us and our direction in life. Hair and tears seemed to fit for this piece, I was abused on three separate occasions by three separate males as a child / teen the nonsensical injustice of this and the marks these events left are not a daily burden, but they are a presence, something that scarred.
As an artist I use and often return to the little red imagery and story to explore injustice, sexuality and to make sense of events in my life, just now it feels like a hairy, scary path.
