Don’t Touch Your Face 2020

HAMER, Michelle

Registration number

1792754

Artist/maker

HAMER, Michelle

Title

Don’t Touch Your Face

Production date

2020

Medium

handstitching, mixed yarn on perforated plastic

Dimensions (H x W x D)

26.5 x 33 cm

Credit line

Purchased, 2020
City of Melbourne Art and Heritage Collection

Keywords

Michelle Hamer, Don't Touch Your Face, Relax, We're Doing Great, 2020, tapestry, COVID, Coronavirus

Summary

Relax, We’re Doing Great explores the mixed messages and lottery of language we have been exposed to during COVID-19. Sourced from local and global leaders, warning signs and public messages the text ranges from instructional to in-denial to even epidemiologically dangerous rhetoric. The varying backgrounds of these hand-stitched billboards reflect on the unfeasibly clear skies we experienced after a tragic bush fired fuelled summer and the lockdowns that slowed movement and industrial activity around the world. These works connect into the hand-made, digital and 24/7 news cycle coping mechanisms - for fears and uncertainty - of this pandemic period. The power and importance of language is highlighted when experienced en masse. The repetition of the layout of these works also allows for the creation of GIFs – mimicking the flickering of LED signage. This series brings together Michelle Hamer’s previous experience of working with language, pixilation and isolation.