Living in Nova Scotia, Canada, at the very edge of the country, has some disadvantages. We often feel isolated and are far away from the busy centres with all their options. But in times of a pandemic, all those apparent disadvantages suddenly turned to being positive things. The virus was slow in approaching, our public health officials had time to see it coming and to act accordingly. They observed what was happening in other parts of the world and Canada and prepared. We introduced strict measures from the start and have been successful so far in keeping the spread under control. We have a very low case load, and life is almost normal -with restrictions, of course. With four other Atlantic Provinces around us, we formed a bubble in July 2020 that has guarded us against an influx of visitors from the rest of Canada and the world by strict quarantine and entry regulations (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Bubble).
As of last week, the bubble has burst and the provinces are once again requiring quarantine if you move between them. Our world has shrunk a bit, but we still are far away from the worst outbreaks.
We feel isolated and also safer at the same time. Living in a bubble also means seeing just your immediate family, or a very few select people and avoiding contact with everyone else.
In my piece, I show the bubbles as colourful, safe spaces, in which we go about our everyday life and concentrate on keeping ourselves and others as safe as we can. The fabric for the bubbles was mono printed and then painted with liquid acrylic paint.
The circle shapes were appliqued onto the background after it was quilted. Hand stitching is highlighting the smaller floating bubbles.
The different backgrounds represent different moods: some days are calm, some emotional, some really dark. We float through time and hope that those days are over soon.
Living in the Bubble
Regina Marzlin
Dimensions h40″ x w38″
Material: hand-printed and painted cotton, commercial cotton fabric, embroidery floss
Technique: printing, painting, raw edge applique, machine- and hand stitching
Thank you for your process images. Looks like you had fun making this one.
This is a wonderful piece. Your color choices make it a very hopeful piece. And that monoprint is georgeous–with and without the color.
Thanks Deb, it’s easy to be hopeful as our situation here has not been too bad at all. Glad you like my monoprints!
We definitely are just floating and hanging in space. This illustrates it so well!
Oh, those moods! I know them well. Your bubbles are so apt and so beautifully depicted.. From a design point of view, your fabrics are mysterious and wonderful!
The bubble is such an apt way to illustrate our current situation. The undulating quilting emphasizes the feeling so well and the printed fabric inside some of the circles is a great way to emphasize “the bubble”.
That is a very precise description of our life right now.
A beautiful example of your work.
Thanks so much, vielen Dank Birgit!