These panels are the result of an interest in how women are representing themselves on the World Wide Web. I am a textile artist who is interested in the connections between the internet and textiles. This series of panels is also an exploration into the connection between 'home making' and 'home page'. As a textile artist I am constantly aware of how people when they encounter the work want to reach out and touch the textile. Through provoking the desire to connect physically with textiles I aim to tap into a basic need to act in relationship to others. I use stitchery to seduce, draw people into the work, and tap into the urge to connect to society. The desire to touch a textile, the need to connect with the work in a physical sense is a metaphor for the internet and virtual communities.

Since building my own home page, I found myself thinking constantly about this activity. I found myself thinking about improvements and additions, and moving things around. It is a bit like arranging a room in a home. This current project was sparked by this experience.

I asked what is it that we do when we represent ourselves on the net? What is a home on the web? Traditionally women were seen as home makers. Are the women who design their own "home" pages continuing tradition of home making? How is the craft of home making reflected in the 'craft' of home pages?

For this body of work I used screen captures from women's home pages. I selected pages from all sorts of women, in many walks of life, and all stages of life, from young energetic feminists to (still energetic) grandmothers. The screen captures from women's home pages were then manipulated in Photoshop. The images were then printed on fabric using a Colour Style Writer 2400. To these prints I added stitchery using hand dyed thread. This process of handwork layered over the print produces a texture which hints at the layered richness of our lives as women. Embroidery is a culturally-loaded textile art. In our culture when embroidery is used it is often associated with gender, memory or nostalgia. This aspect of embroidery I exploited and used cultural associations in order to speak about "home on the net"

Embroidery and textiles are associated with notions of home making and the domestic. This means of course, that it is an ideal medium to explore these ideas. The other medium is the web itself. I asked those whose home pages I used as a source, to tell me about their experience of the internet and the experience of building a home page. These stories appear next to the panel that relates to their page. A link to the home page that was the source for each image also appears on the same page as the work.

This exhibition was held in the Craft ACT Gallery, Canberra, Australia between the 3rd of September 1997 and the 21st September 1997.

Sharon Boggon