We are inundated with advertising not just through traditional media, but within our personal
sphere as well. Almost every object and product we buy is emblazoned with logos and slogans.
Ownership of said objects and products includes the constant advertising their presence in our
private sphere constitutes.
In time, we become inured to logos as agents of consumerism. They become part of our visual
lexicon, defining and driving our ideals and ambitions, both as individuals and consumers. In our
global economy, many of these symbols transcend political and national borders. Icons of our
ideology, we subconsciously read logos as symbols and other visual motifs, not different from
those of theology, cartography, politics, heraldry, sciences, etc.
For centuries, embroidery samplers were not only a means of education for girls and women;
but a demonstration of their mastery of feminine arts, thus indicative of their worth as wives. In
contemporary households, women make most of the day-to-day purchasing decisions, and thus
are responsive to advertising.
By re-creating contemporary consumer symbols through traditional techniques of hand
embroidery, I facilitate a dialogue between maker or viewer and handmade object. The
proliferation and repetition of manual stitches belies the mass-production and lack of human
authorship attributed to these symbols. Through my references to domesticity, I ask the viewer to
visit their personal relationship to logos and branding.
sphere as well. Almost every object and product we buy is emblazoned with logos and slogans.
Ownership of said objects and products includes the constant advertising their presence in our
private sphere constitutes.
In time, we become inured to logos as agents of consumerism. They become part of our visual
lexicon, defining and driving our ideals and ambitions, both as individuals and consumers. In our
global economy, many of these symbols transcend political and national borders. Icons of our
ideology, we subconsciously read logos as symbols and other visual motifs, not different from
those of theology, cartography, politics, heraldry, sciences, etc.
For centuries, embroidery samplers were not only a means of education for girls and women;
but a demonstration of their mastery of feminine arts, thus indicative of their worth as wives. In
contemporary households, women make most of the day-to-day purchasing decisions, and thus
are responsive to advertising.
By re-creating contemporary consumer symbols through traditional techniques of hand
embroidery, I facilitate a dialogue between maker or viewer and handmade object. The
proliferation and repetition of manual stitches belies the mass-production and lack of human
authorship attributed to these symbols. Through my references to domesticity, I ask the viewer to
visit their personal relationship to logos and branding.
© 2009 RubiStudios
