Artist's statement

Monique's work encompasses loom weaving, Jacquard weaving, printing with pigments and dyes, as well as mixed media. The concepts in her work focus on common human experiences. Inspired by her community arts work in a hospice for the dying, Monique started her Master of Philosophy studies at the Australian National University School of Art in 2000.

"The shroud as a contemporary textile art form in the Western world" was the result of research into the resurgence of the shroud both as a practical object and a form of conceptual textile art. The sub-thesis argued that shrouds are becoming a significant phenomenon embodying personal, medical and political responses to death. It concluded that contemporary shrouds are linked to changing attitudes to death and dying.

The accompanying exhibition Welcome and Farewell explored concepts of life and death, from a personal and contemporary viewpoint, in the form of ritual textiles to cover and wrap the body at birth and death. Techniques and imagery were selected to convey ideas of fertility, sacrifice, light, natural forces, dust, space, time and eternity.

Monique's latest exhibition of hand woven work simply cloth, looked at simple and ordinary textiles. The installation showed the beauty of everyday textiles (such as handkerchiefs, dishcloths, nappies, washers, tea towels, blankets) evoking personal stories and memories. The work also addressed environmental concerns, highlighting wasteful practises in Western societies, where ordinary and utilitarian woven cloth is disappearing, substituted by synthetic and disposable alternatives.