Sayaka Miyata

The aesthetics of failure

宮田彩加從事刺繡藝術似乎是一件理所當然的事。婆婆是拼布藝術家,媽媽則愛剌繡,每天宮田彩加都被各種圖案各種色彩的布與線簇擁著,自小便愛上畫圖繪畫,也愛配色,於是長大後便入讀了京都造型藝術大學的染織系。

原本專注於漂染的宮田彩加,在大學四年級時希望造出有「有份量」的布料,但怎樣染,布料始終輕盈單薄,她後來想到了用刺編增加其重量,細線一層一層地纏在布料上,布料便越來越厚,越來越重。刺繡費時,因此布料的重量,就如同時間的重量。她愛煞兩者微妙的關係,目光漸漸轉向刺繡藝術。

宮田彩加熱愛手工製作,對於電子衣車極為嫌惡,然而在她鑽研自己的創作風格時,還是為自己添了一台衣車,想不到就這樣創作出她最引人注目的一系列作品:「野菜Warp」。刺繡最惱人的是,細線糾纏在一起難捨難分,電子衣車雖只要加入電腦檔案,就能繡出完美的圖案,但檔案若有任何漏洞,圖案便會變得亂七八糟。這些錯誤叫創作人討厭,宮田彩加偏偏將之視為美,刻意在檔案中製造漏洞,改變衣車下針時的節奏, 一個個完整的蔬果,縫出來後四分五裂,而殘像也被細線編織出來。

「Error:從失敗的行為裡誕生的新價值觀。」宮田彩加說這是「野菜Warp」的主題,內裡的錯誤,是失敗,也是美。

Embroidery art is perhaps a rather obvious choice for Sayaka Miyata: Miyata’s grandmother was a patchwork artist, her mother is also into embroidery. Having a childhood surrounded by diversified patterns of colour, Miyata enjoyed drawing and colouring as a child. Going to Kyoto University of Art and Design to study dyeing and weaving appears to be a decision consistent with her upbringing.

During the fourth year in university, Sayaka Miyata’s interest in dyeing gradually developed into a personal project of creating a fabric with considerable weight. Regardless of how much dye she added to the fabric, it was light and ethereal all the same. Then she came up with the idea of using embroidery as a way to add weight to the fabric — the fabric becomes increasingly thick and heavy along with the layers and layers of thread ravelling. As the process takes time, the weight of the piece of fabric is similar to the weight of time in the process of embroidery; Miyata was overwhelmingly fascinated by the correlation, and began to engage herself in embroidery.

Although Miyata’s love for handicraft made her despise computerized sewing machine, still she bought one in her search of a unique style of design. This unexpected pick was the start of her most well known series of work called Vegetable Warp. The greatest challenge one has when making embroidery is to untangle knots of thread. With a computerized sewing machine, one can easily create a perfect pattern based on a digital file. The end product will however be completely messed up if there is any flaw in the digital file. Unlike most of the designers who are frustrated by errors, Miyata treasures errors and considers them beautiful. The intentional error she puts in the file, combining with her adjustment to the stitching speed, this is how Miyata manipulates usual images of fruits into deformed patterns of after image.

“Error: Failure is the best hatchery for new standard of value.” Sayaka Miyata’s motif of Vegetable Warp explains the intertwining and inseparable relationship among error, failure and beauty.

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