WEIGHT OF THE WORLD – TANYA FENKELL

‘weight of the world’ is about shared burdens and responsibilities. The inherent human propensity to hang onto doubts, imperfections and problems can feel immense but there is great potential in working incrementally towards repair.  In this stitched textile piece, literal and figurative weights have been added to the felted landscape to illustrate the weighing down of the earth. The metal objects retrieved from the ground by the artist on walks or runs in Toronto are hard and persistent evidence of the impact our existence inflicts on our planet pleading for respect, repair and restoration. Our place as humans within the earth’s fragile environment is intrinsic and enmeshed; we remain a part of nature and exist within an eternal conversation with it as we evolve. An acknowledgement of our power – constructive or destructive – is a path towards mending ourselves and atonement with the planet.