As an introvert who loves stitching and mark-making on preloved textiles, Lindsey @lindzeanne on Instagram is in her element during this coronoavirus lockdown with lots of time on her hands. In this ARISING from Disruption #7 conversation, Jane Milburn chats to Lindsey, whom she was scheduled to meet as part of her Churchill Fellowship study tour. They will meet in real life, when travel becomes possible again. Notes from the conversation are below. See Lindsey’s beautiful stitching here
What Lindsey said:
Life has changed a lot, but not so terribly. I am in-between jobs so not currently going out to work and I live in a small apartment of 60 sq m with my partner, sequestered here for past two weeks, which is cosy with only a small balcony for outdoor space. We have been social distancing since it (coronoavirus) blew up in the states. Tokyo is not really shutting down because trains still run, grocery stores are open and people are on the streets and in parks. We have experienced two waves of the virus, at first it was here but no-one really acknowledged it. With the cruise ship, there was racism and the Japanese media played it down. But then since it blew out in the West, Japan has been forced to re-recognize it. It has only been in the past week, when the state of emergency was declared, that things got weird and the grocery stores are not stocked and trains not running as regularly.
I usually work 40 hours a week as a full-time school teacher, but with this new job I’m not sure about my schedule. I teach language arts to junior high school students at a private school for native English speakers. I have been teaching American Lit and Western Lit for kids for the past six years in Tokyo, and in Hiroshima for five years before that. I don’t sew or stitch full-time, I just do it in pockets of time.
On Instagram I am @lindzeanne which is a curated spaced, because I don’t really have a space in my apartment. My full name is Lindsey Anne Gradolph, my family calls me Lindseanne which is very southern because I’m from Georgia. I painted in watercolours for 13 years but got bored with that five years ago and started sewing my own garments and upcycling. I’ve lived in Japan for so long and didn’t know about sashiko until about five years ago. I found that using textiles was more interesting than just watercolours. I am a tactile person and it was a fun transition. I was inspired by other artists and fell into freeform stitching because I am terrible at following a pattern.
I find textiles at lots of antique markets in Japan around Tokyo. Tourists and foreigners come and buy all the expensive boro-type things but no-one really buys the scraps or the offcuts, so usually I can go to an antique market and haggle my way down for scraps that way. Friends give me things. I have lots of projects on the go. I love working with vintage men’s shirts – basically using anything secondhand. I magpie hoard things.
I have tried sashiko but I am really bad at following patterns or having a straight line, so I have never called what I do sashiko even though the Japanese community that I’m around does call it that. It looks like sashiko but it is not. I am more into repetitive mark making – it mirrors sashiko but it is basically a backstitch, it is not very functional, you wouldn’t want to wear it on a garment. It feels like cultural appropriation when people says Lindsey does sashiko, but I don’t, I need a new name for it.
The stitching I do is repetitive, abstract mark making. I make a lot of my teacher outfits which are Sonya Philips tunics, simple, quick and easy. Mostly I wear vintage and secondhand as much as possible – I like antique French night shirts. As much as possible, I buy secondhand.
I have always been an introvert and a fiercely independent person, so being told to stay home is fine. I have the luxury to say it has been quite nice. Things are currently up in the air regarding my employment, which is a bit spooky as a foreigner, but I think it will work out fine. My cooking has got better – I cook every day – it suits me just fine to be home. I force myself to have a schedule. When teaching, I usually wake up at 4am to get some work done before going to work. Now I’m getting up about 6.30am, exercise and have breakfast. From about 9-11am, my partner and I space out and watch Netflix, then the rest of the day is stitching, and about 5pm I start cooking. Wash and repeat.
People look at my work and say that it is so calm, you must be a really calm person, but that is not the case at all. I am a high-strung, ‘’can’t sit still’’ kind of person, so I have never thought of it for mindfulness or as meditative – it is the repetition I like but I wouldn’t classify myself as a mindful person or someone who is practicing mindfulness in that way. I wanted to get into weaving, because Saori weaving is readily available to do in Japan, but I don’t have space for a loom whereas hand-stitching is a portable thing to do, so it springs from that too.
I’ve always been really concerned with not buying new things for a craft. People often say, I’m going to start a new practice and go buy this and that. My thread and fabric is secondhand. With cooking, we have been careful about food waste because food is expensive in Tokyo. We’ve gotten creative with using every single thing we have in the refrigerator. Cutting down on waste, being more mindful about what we use. Don’t need to use paper towels to clean the floor, which was a bad habit I had. We have a washing machine that was gifted to us and the shower is a dryer. Nice to not have to leave the house except for grocery shopping.
Tips: I am coming from a place of luxury, where I don’t have to leave the house. Relatively safe and have local grocery store. I think having a schedule is important, keeping a routine. I am high-strung and think ‘’don’t waste time, this is a gift’’. In January, I told my partner I need someone to tell me no, and while I didn’t mean something as severe as this, it has been ironic timing. Take advantage of this time and use it for something productive.
Changes: In Tokyo, people are not really changing their lifestyles much, we have socialized health care here, it is a walking community and there is no food desert. But looking at the states, it is scary, reading the news it seems like a monumental occasion for the states. Things might change, which is scary but exciting. In Tokyo, people might be more closely knit, there is more care and concern for others it seems. Currently my school expects me back May 7 but I don’t see that happening. Summer vacation has been cancelled or shortened and there will be online teaching until then. I expect personally to not teach until September and we will have online classes until then. Coronavirus numbers are escalating here, as they have started reporting them. Japan is behind in terms of awareness. It is here, not like in the states, but people didn’t take it seriously until last week.