Etti Abergel

Plastic basket, organic threads, 50x30x20 cm., 2014

Mending clothes and creating useful handicrafts have been a woman's duty for many generations. I am more fascinated, however, by women's decorative work - embroidery, knitting and weaving - the hand-made work that isn't part of the household chores. 

All those small and large serviettes, embroidered pictures and crochets, have no practical use. Sometimes these works have no beginning or end, but the color combinations and materials were still carefully selected. They portray the woman's personality, intimate codes and secrets, and often reveal the reality of spending long hours of confinement in the house. 

Abergil turns the women's handicraft - an integral part of a woman's training in becoming a better housewife - into a sculpture, a useless object. In her artwork, the threads are almost colorless, held together by a generic plastic basket. The same threads that were supposed to keep the order in place, now hang loose. Together with the basket, they transform into a work of art.