Yarn

Knitting and stitching are more than artistic practices—they are acts of resilience and repair.

In this body of work, yarn becomes a conduit for healing and creative renewal. My understanding of its power grew while using fiber arts in art therapy with more than one hundred children who had been traumatized by Hurricane Katrina. Again and again, I witnessed how knitting offered them emotional grounding and a sense of agency. They would say, “I am creating something from nothing.” Or, “When I knit, I can’t think about anything but the yarn and needles.” One child shared, “When I can’t sleep at night, I pretend to knit—and then I fall asleep.”

I, too, turn to knitting to quiet my thoughts. In the repetition and rhythm—the pulling and tugging, the working through and letting go—I find steadiness. The process moves beyond the domestic associations of yarn, transforming fiber into a medium for emotional, psychological, and creative restoration.