What will you pack in your suitcase?

This installation comprises 12 framed textile pieces, an animated video, a suitcase embellished with a crocheted band using morse code SOS for its pattern, and an ocean-steeped child’s life vest and life preserver.

Public service disaster readiness campaigns focus on preparing to leave home at short notice, including having a bag of essentials pre-packed. This work explores the experience of packing to flee from home during a climate catastrophe. The images are generated from AI tools using the keywords ‘woman, child, suitcase, rescue boat’. They capture the liminal, distorted sense of time and self that fleeing creates in us. The images are “quilted” with stitched SOS’s in morse code, juxtaposing the need for, and sense of dislocation from, the comfort and safety of familiar domestic stitching rituals.