?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
Katsiaficas, Diane (b. 1947) Silkworker's Apron.
2006-2007.
Apron, with photographic image transfers on silk produced in Soufli, Greece; ties and shoulder straps worked with embroidered text; the bib and skirt of the apron densely covered with many small portraits of female Greek textile workers, ties and straps embroidered with text concerning the demands of the workers and particulars of their strike; housed in a plexi-glass shadow box frame; 53 x 48 in.
Soufli was a source of high-quality silk fiber and fabric beginning in the 19th century. In 1930, the silk workers unionized. In 1933, 108 female silk workers went on strike, demanding an increase in wages, access to clean drinking water, and the implementation of an eight hour day. The strike lasted for four days and was ultimately unsuccessful. Katsiaficas prints fabric with text and images and then cuts and sews the textiles into garment-like forms and shapes, in this case graphically illustrating the story of these Greek female textile workers.
"I am a visual storyteller, drawn to stories and places that resonate with social conscience and responsible practice. Each of us is the product of our heritage and our surroundings, of our history and our emotions. Artists are the mirrors of those experiences. We serve as observers, viewers, editors, and translators of complex social issues." (Quoted from Katsiaficas's Artist's Statement: http://www.dianekatsiaficas.com/statement.html)
