Hand me down by Selby Hi

Selby Hi’s piece, ‘Hand Me Down’, is inspired by the relationships between mothers and daughters and the generational transfer of emotions and life from one to the next. Butterfly bushes hold strong associations for her, as they grow wildly in her grandmother’s garden and near her grandmother’s home; she always remembers her grandmother when she sees these bushes.

For the piece, she rug-punched the initial shape of each flower, then individually sewed each petal to create additional detail and depth in each blossom. She used a Dremel tool to engrave the wooden frame, mimicking a fake wood grain to create slightly off-kilter yet recognisable details.

Selby Hi has recently found inspiration in The Sims 1 graphics, particularly the juxtaposition of texture alongside negative space. The mundane, everyday, and familial elements within the game also resonate with her practice. She finds it rewarding to transform this inspiration from screen to textile. She designed the piece’s background to create an overwhelming textural contrast with the fragile ceramic hands.

Wool, hessian, ceramic and wood

38W x 47H cm

2025