Mon abécédaire.

Solo exhibition

Kivland showed a set of works conceived for the space of the gallery. The work consists of twenty-four antique handkerchiefs, each embroidered with a flaw in the artist's character. The following text was produced as a small pamphlet for visitors:

I have worked hard on my embroidery, starting with anguish, passing through despair, narcissism, discharge of duty, and completing my work with zeal. I have learnt to sew in cross-stitch, counting the threads on an open weave of linen, trying to achieve a uniform appearance and an even size. I have separated my strands of red silk carefully, teasing them out to avoid snarling. I have worked the serifs of my words in stem-stitch, working from left to right so my thread emerges to the left of the previous stitch. I have drawn out each word with a soft pencil, shading with care on new scraps of linen, then worked through the cloth, which subsequently must be pulled away, thread by thread, to leave my imperfections. Like any child who wants to be good, who wants to set a good example, I have addressed my faults, my flaws, my defects. I have worked my list of odious self-knowledge on French hankerchiefs of lawn and lace, collected over several years. They are now given up to my task of self-analysis (helped in part by constant address to Laplanche and Pontalis’ Vocabulaire de la psychanalyse, a standard encyclopaedic reference work for psychoanalysis). I have made an example of myself. I have embroidered my alphabet, and now I may demonstrate my knowledge, my industry, and my virtue. This is my abécédaire, designed to teach the most elementary lessons, and it is witness to my dexterity. Mon abécédaire is a classic work of self education,and I have worked hard all year.