The Fool

Textile artist and printmaker Ella Morreale explores ‘The Fool’. Installed in Milky’s Cafe are 8″ tall, hand painted, sheer curtain panels. They envelope the windows with colour and illustrate a story. In making, Morreale accesses the essence of Tarot archetypes, interrogating the nature of the psyche through semiotics. Subconsciously, she translates stories to the viewer by embedding symbols into textile. This work is about transformation, beginnings and endings, and the cyclical nature of life. Unexpectedly, one day you can find yourself back on shaky feet, feeling like the juvenile Fool at the start of her journey. Morreale investigates what we can learn from the freedom and the anxiety of change.

“The Fool takes a leap of faith. She jumps from the mountain’s edge with a white rose pinched between her fingers. Through symbols she manifests the journey, teetering on the precipice. What the Fool does not yet know is that the ending is only the beginning and the beginning is only the end of what once was. Where are you going? Curtains veil what is in front of her– blissful ignorance. They are protection, a sheath to a blade and a gateway, a portal into possibility. Can this Fool find her wings? Naiveté leaps her forward. Only fleeing the nest will tell her the truth.”

— Ella Morreale