The Important Thing Is That You Care
Night, light, sight and loss. A home becomes a house, a tool, the border for communication and caring. All together but all alone.
Created by Marie Jones, following conversations with a bereaved person from Wales.
The image is dark blue, with a large golden yellow eye filling the top third of the panel. The centre of the eye is white, and two hands are visible within it. Each hand has another, more recognisable eye on it. A golden chain or necklace runs in a semi-circular shape over the top of the golden eye. Beneath the eye is a silhouette of the family house, drawn in a shallow perspective, and below the house are two more eyes. Beams of light emanate from these eyes, almost like searchlights, passing through the windows of the house and up towards the large golden eye. White specks – like snowflakes – are visible in the beams of light.
This is an immensely personal piece of art that was developed by the artist Marie Jones, in conversation with a bereaved individual from Wales recalling the passing of her father – with a focus on his hands (he was an artist and art teacher) and also his eyes, which she saw in the mirror looking back at her the day after he died.
Night, light, sight and loss. A home becomes a house, a tool, the border for communication and caring. All together but all alone.
The title is “The Important Thing Is That You Care”.
Discover the details
Click on a thumbnail from the tapestry to reveal more details from the artist.
A house, a home
"At the heart of the image is a house, a home. During the pandemic this became the border for communication and caring - with the family separated into those who were inside and those who were not. The house became a tool, a barrier - the familiar, made somehow unfamiliar."
Cradling hands
"Hands are an important element of this artwork as Jane's father was an artist and at the time of his passing, she kept seeing images of his hands. Here, they cradle the main eye of the tapestry, although in the original photograph that inspired this part of the tapestry, they held his baby grandson. He recently would also have been a very proud great grandad!"
Eyes looking back at me
"Eyes were spoken about often in the making of this tapestry. Jane saw her father's eyes looking back at her in the mirror the day after he passed. When taken to hospital he forgot his glasses - and so his last journey out of his home, and the remainder of his time remaining, would have visually been a blur. Sight was important to him and his work."
What this panel represents to us
Jane, the woman whose family’s experience inspired Marie’s artworkWhen I first saw this tapestry, I felt an overwhelming feeling of love for my father, just as I did the moment he was dying. I kept seeing his hands then: hands that held mine as a child, hands that taught me to draw and hands that held my son when he was born. Hands I was unable to hold at the end to give comfort. Marie has captured the trauma of that time, trying to save both my parents in what felt like a war zone in the depths of winter, with lights spilling out into the darkness like searchlights. The family home I was born in, becoming like an impenetrable fortress and the subsequent socially distanced funeral, divided by the stark red and white tape. But more than this, Marie has captured the man my father was, dignified, intelligent, loving, kind, and an artist. Embedded in this tapestry is our life with my dad, and our lives now without him being here, unable to meet his little great-grandson. The last thing my dad said to me ‘the important thing is that you care’, so when I look at this tapestry, I see a lifetime of love.
About the artist
Marie Jones
Marie uses a combination of scale, colour, humour, and domestic craft techniques to create works such as large scale site responsive installations, wall hangings, soft sculptures, art garments and performance. Born in Wales and currently based in Warrington, she explores snippets of everyday conversations that linger, and our interpretations of them.
She is also interested in our relationships with one another and how transcribing these can enable empathy and our ability to look beyond limitations and expectations.