Sailor's Knots Series

Sailor's Knots Series, 2006
Text dipped in seawater, pins, ink on paper
48cm x 38cm (each)

There are ten works in this series. Each text has been cut into strips, dipped in seawater and twisted to form lengths of rope. The ropes are tied into knots – a different knot for each text. These are pinned down like animal specimens, accompanied by a description and general usage of the knot.

The lengths of rope/text left over are collected in the last work in this series, titled ‘Spare Lengths’.

The texts and their corresponding knots are:

[1] “Keterangan Anwar Ibrahim di Mahkahmah (Fragmentasi)” - Tomfool knot

[2] “New York Babel” by Paul Auster – Grommets

[3] “On The High Wire” by Paul Auster – Bow-line On A Bight

[4] “Prologue to the History and Practice of English Magic by Jonathan Strange” by Susanna Clarke – Turk’s Head

[5] “The Seventh Man” by Haruki Murakami – Fisherman’s Knot

[6] “The Transformasi of a Language” by Salleh Ben Joned – Garrick Bend

[7] Lyrics to “Disc 1, Substance 1987” by New Order – Ordinary Knot

[8] One Love Letter (Written 25 February 2006, Kuala Lumpur) – Bow-line

[9] Three poems and their translations by Goenawan Mohammed – Open Chain