Svifa (meaning “to take flight”) is a collaborative artwork consisting of a sock-pelt cloak with accompanying soundtrack which speaks to and symbolises the place of strong, powerful, independent women in our contemporary world. This project brings together visual and foley artists Anne Blair-Hickman and Brae Parker from the Blue Mountains.

Using her family’s collection of over 100 worn, odd and old socks which were destined for landfill, Anne worked with the properties of the materials by staining, dying, cutting, folding and stitching them into a warrioress cloak with a feathered and textured pelt. The use of recycled socks links the cape to the domestic role of women, reinterpreting the banal and elevating it to something which is more than the sum of its parts. The garment has a primitive aesthetic reminiscent of animal skin coats worn by Cro-Magons. The vision of a woman in a cloak, standing on a precipice as she surveys the vastness and beauty before her emerged as the cloak was being made. For Anne the floaty, fun and textured cape is symbolic of strong, powerful independent women living in our contemporary world. The textural ambient music composition reinforces this mythic, timeless woman through textured layers of sounds recorded from nature, lingering, lofty and haunting vocals, all underscored with a rhythmic and steady beat.

Brae is a songwriter, producer and sound engineer from the Blue Mountains. He loves exploring texture and sound design in music and strives to create work which reflects the beauty and strength of the natural environment, and the complexity and depth of human relationship.

Acknowledgements: Diana Pringle (Artist Assistant)

For more information: https://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/8105616/think-outside-the-frox/