Hazel Harris - 2024

Artist's Statement

This project is a circular punch needle rug depicting our island planet. On one side of the globe, the oceans and continents are blue and green. On the other, the globe is fading into shades of gray. The two parts of the globe are held together by two Band-Aids. This project is meant to visually navigate what our continuing actions are really doing to our world and represent how we can reverse some of our mistakes and heal the earth if we choose to.

Punch needling is a fiber art where a sharp needle is used to poke yarn into a tightly stretched cloth. I thought that this would be an apt representation of how humans have “poked” into the earth and changed it. I chose this depiction of the earth to make the viewer think about how human actions have changed the world for the worse and how we could change it for the better.