This tapestry was an attempt to acknowledge the opportunities my generation has and which my grandmother's did not. The original design for this tapestry was very different, an imagined conversation between two figures representing her generation and mine. Something didn't feel right once it was on the loom and the second figure and a landscape were omitted. It was then I realised all else was superfluous as the second figure was already in it, in me as the weaver, and the very act off weaving it is the evidence of the paths we have. The first figure was strong enough to carry the narrative alone and the blackness served to accentuate her isolation.

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There was a belief in the medieval period that the pelican would feed its young with its own blood, the beak cutting into itself. It became a metaphor for Christ's self sacrifice and can be found in sculpture, stained windows, illustrations and where I first came across it, in medieval tapestry. I used the motif to reflect the sacrifices that can come with motherhood, especially in generations where pregnancy was not a choice and one to which other ambitions would invariably have to be abandoned.