Importer

 

Exporter and Importer.  Stitched words: Shipping Goods Out (Exporter, above) and Shipping Good In (Importer, below). Both are xylene photo transfers on tea-stained muslin with found objects. Hand stitched and beaded. Each one:  25" x 19", unframed; 31" x 25" framed.  Click on images to enlarge.

 

Generally I write about each portrait separately, but I can't do this with these two special pieces. They are utterly related, inseparable! For every "importer" there's an "exporter". Every "exporter" in this country is supplying an "importer" somewhere else. When I look around my house, my studio, and my business, EVERYTHING COMES FROM ALL OVER THE PLACE!

I drive a Japanese Scion built in Canada for the US market. I stitch with a Swiss made sewing machine. My favorite cotton thread is Egyptian and my supplier is in Perth, Australia. When stitching these pieces, my husband Steve bought the official USA soccer jersey for the World Cup; it is made from 100% recycled materials.....plastic bottles from Korean and Japanese landfills.....made in Sri Lanka. The jersey was a birthday gift to our son who lives in England. Our current favorite red wine is any Malbec from Argentina. My custom picture framing supplies come from China, Mexico, Germany, and elsewhere. The aisles in the hardware store (likely my favorite shopping place) have products from across the globe. I also love antiques from all over the world and my blog gets regular hits from six different continents.

Thus, I had to stitch these pieces at the same time....with some of the same things on both pieces....because some of the seemingly "same things" actually are made in more than one country....just check out any department store. The two ladies who posed are friends. They are quite aware of the similarities in their decisions to ship goods across national borders. They are both providing products to eager people and jobs to many.