Sew the Sea Around me - Museum of Art Fort Collins, Colorado

This piece is part of the body of work 'Locus of the Dress', which explores the construction of the self, bringing together contemporary textiles and psychology. In Locus of the Dress, I’m concerned with exploring the fine veneer of cloth that stands between us and the world, investigating the external and internal landscape of a dress, its zones of psychogeography, a place we inhabit as home physically & psychologically.

I collaborated with psychologist Dr Hermina Hernaiz to explore the psychological theory Locus of Control which pinpoints our sense of self on a spectrum. Pertinent to our times, those with an EXTERNAL Locus feel powerless to life’s events, feeling like things are being done to them. We are all striving for a strong INTERNAL Locus, enabling command, responsibility & autonomy.  In Sewthe Sea Around Me  I use imagery from the Walpole Bay Tidal Pool Margate to represent aspects of wellbeing and resilience strong signifiers of an internal locus.

Read the preface of essay written by Dr Herminia Hernaiz-Sanders, Clinical Psychologist and Shelly Goldsmith at https://archivistaddendum.com/Shelly-Goldsmith

The dress is complete. It's like a little planet a conversation between Dal Chodha and Shelly Goldsmith was published as a chapter in Archivist Addendum 2022 https://tenderbooks.co.uk/products/archivist-addendum-1

Online Locus of Control questionnaire  https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/tests/personality/locus-of-control-test