Just Keep Going is the series of Yarn installations I began during my Master’s research in Art in Public Space in 2017, and continued into 2019. It is a 3D line-drawing installation and performance series, sometimes with projections. Crocheted red hemp Yarn is applied directly to the structures of each site, using neither nails nor hooks, and the same Yarn is re-used from site to site, carrying the experiences and memories of one place into the next.
The Yarn has no beginning and no end. The work changes depending on the point of view of the person who comes to it, just as we all live different lives. I started in public space rather than galleries because those most in need of a moment of respite often have no time to visit them. I wanted the Yarn to be something that finds you where you already are.
Looking back, the title described a state of relentless forward motion: the next work, the next application, the next meal, the next load of washing. Stopping felt impossible. My PhD research re-frames this practice from a performance of resilience to an ethical stance of Being Keepers. The material act of weaving Yarn continues, but its function has shifted from an attempt to adapt to the system to a way of protecting the internal life force. The change of title from Just Keep Going to Being Keepers marks a shift from an activism of doing to an activism of being: simply remaining present.