My treasured object is a scarf I bought at Tate Modern. It’s from an exhibition by the artist Marlene Dumas that had a profound effect on me. I’ve had it for nearly five years now. It’s not worn as a scarf, though; I stretched it and mounted it in a frame. It was impossible for me to buy an original painting, but by transforming the scarf in this way, I could capture a piece of that experience.
It’s the emotion in the image that makes it so special. At first glance, it feels like sadness, but over the years that perception has shifted. In the context of our home, it no longer feels sorrowful. It’s been with us since we had our daughter Mila and has witnessed all the emotions we’ve gone through during that beautiful time as a family.
It hangs in the main space of our home, overseeing much of what we do. What initially felt melancholic has grown into something much richer. Within it, I see reality, the human experience. Ultimately, I feel something positive from it. There’s a contradiction between something that initially feels quite heavy but, in the end, emotionally, it is uplifting. I like that contradiction.
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That approach of taking something and then shifting it into something else is a process I go through with my work. I might take a polystyrene cup and make it into a table lamp, or a piece of coal could become a sculpture. Most importantly, it’s how that object then radiates emotion, how it interacts with the space in a new way. There’s a subtle shift that changes everything. I love that this piece holds that same quiet power. paulcocksedgestudio.com
