Andrew McPhail @ TH&B

CRYBABY by Andrew McPhail, 2010-ongoing; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

I saw Andrew McPhail's CRYBABY at the TH&B collective's exhibition in an industrial space at 270 Sherman in May 2012. Can you guess what Andrew has hand stitched together to create this immense textile?

CRYBABY by Andrew McPhail, 2010-ongoing; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

If you guessed Kleenex, you are correct. My appreciation for this piece deepened when I learned of what it was made. I felt protective of it, knowing how vulnerable Kleenex is to tearing.

CRYBABY by Andrew McPhail, 2010-ongoing; Photo Credit: Karen Thiessen, 2012

Andrew started making CRYBABY in 2010 and continues to add to it. It is made of thousands of Kleenex hand stitched together, tears, and a toy airplane. Oh Andrew, what were you crying about when you wrapped that toy airplane?