Olivia Irvine

Once Upon a Carpet is based on the carpet in my mother’s house. The pattern is something that I have got used to over the years but, on focusing on it, I realise how complex and strangely beautiful it is. My mother’s house has been the site of many family gatherings over the last thirty years. Although I did not grow up there, my daughters spent time in that room as children. The two girls occupying the carpet space could be my daughters or one of my sisters and me as children. There is a feeling of unreality about the space which appears to dissolve as it forms. It suggests an invented story or a day dream.