In this artwork, tear shaped holes were created in the provided linen. The edges of these holes were hand stitched using cotton thread from my grandmother’s work basket. The holes were then individually filled with seaweed (marine macroalgae) pulp, and the artwork dried and pressed.
‘Garden of Tears’ alludes to the tears shed by mothers whose sons and daughters have been lost at sea. The seaweeds used to create the different pulps were gathered from around Tasmania’s rocky coastline, where there have been numerous shipping tragedies over the years.
The linen and hand stitching represent the home and a mother’s love, devotion and selfless domestic labour.

Catherine Stringer is a Tasmanian visual artist whose practice is inspired by water and sea related narratives and mythology. Media used include painting and papermaking.
Over the past 10 years Catherine has undertaken considerable private research and experimentation to develop unique techniques for working with seaweeds. She now creates delicate 2 and 3 dimensional artworks from her handmade seaweed paper, which incorporate themes of separation, loss and transformation.