Insecurity Blanket
(2013)
Objects are often the sole witness to our most private admissions of self-doubt. In Nasogaluak Carpenter’s Insecurity Blanket, the childhood icon of protection is instead inscribed with the transcripts of anxietyladen whispers of young adulthood, muttered into stale covers over countless sleepless nights. Bound into the patchwork surface are meme-based truisms, from “I don’t know what I’m doing” and “Am I an artist yet?” to an existential image of an emoji stabbing itself in the eye, all meticulously detailed in delicate black thread. Framed by fabric adorned with modest bouquets, recalling the decorative cushions and throws littering family basements, the textile is far more than a blanket statement. It is confession, absolution and, perhaps, a sense of security in all this uncertainty.