Caroline Armijo

Tobacco Rug
materials: tobacco, hardware cloth, ink, craft paper
dimensions: 38” x 15”

This project recreates a latch hook rug, like the rugs I made with my grandmother when I stayed with her in the summers and after school. I wove together twists of tobacco and strips of craft paper. On the craft paper, I wrote three recollections from my childhood.

My grandparents were farmers in North Carolina. They raised tobacco as part of their crops. I vividly remember working in the tobacco as a child, and my grandmother also smoked, both of which affected my childhood allergies. The smoke would seep into the shag rug in their house.

The first story describes when I cut my right hand with a Dr. Pepper bottle on the steps of my grandmother’s house when I was kindergarten. The shape of the final piece is taken from the shape of my scar. The second story is about spending time on my grandmother’s brown shag rug and my severe allergies. The third story shares the time when my grandparents thought they saw a snake on the shag rug.

Hear the audio files of the three stories online at http://www.carolinearmijo.com/wordpress/?page_id=1729.