Pille Ernesaks turns her grandmother’s damaged tablecloth into an installation

Artist Pille Ernesaks has opened an exhibition inspired by her grandmother at Vabaduse Gallery, an art gallery in Tallinn, ERR reports. At its centre is a hand-embroidered tablecloth that belonged to her grandmother, Hilda Valentine (1908-1989).

The tablecloth was found in a country-house barn decades after Valentine’s death, damaged by rats. Ernesaks has not tried to restore it to its original condition. Instead, she uses what she calls “replacement therapy”: missing fibres are replaced with new materials and textures, leaving the repairs visible.

Ernesaks says the work brings two eras together through one object, and is an attempt to work alongside her grandmother rather than in her place. The gallery-wide installation re-presents and recreates the tablecloth. It also tells the story of Hilda, a printing-house worker who loved technology and science, began language school at 66 and was unable to fulfil her dream of becoming a scientist for financial reasons.

Ernesaks, who is based in Tallinn, combines painting, installation and experiments with materials. The exhibition, titled “Substitute-Treatment-Structures,” is open at Vabaduse Gallery until November 4.