It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane is a sewing circle for times of crisis. Meeting regularly, we share experiences while stitching white gloves together – a symbolic act of joining hands, mending attitudes, and opening space for hope.

The project began when Teigen’s child realised he was growing up in the midst of a climate crisis. It tells the story of a mother trying to answer her child truthfully without frightening him, and in doing so, confronting her own ignorance, naïveté, anxiety, and blind spots. At its heart, it is an exploration of what responsibility and care can mean today.

The resulting textile installation, A Cave of a Thousand Hands, draws inspiration from prehistoric hand paintings found across the world – ancient traces of presence, community, co-creation, and ritual. Tent poles in the work echo the ‘sixth finger’ that often appears in AI-generated hands – a contemporary mutation of this primordial symbol.

It Takes a Fool to Remain Sane is also one mother’s tragicomedy: a self-biographical journey imagined through the form of a Tarot deck, a game of images used for reflection. In Tarot, the main character is The Fool – the soul in human form, the one who sets out on the journey. The Fool is you, me, all of us who play the game of life.

This journey unfolds in three acts, guided by encounters with different archetypes, and it shapes the structure of this exhibition:

Act 1 – The Journey through the World

The Fool begins life still innocent, blank, and naïve. On the path, they meet other archetypes, absorb trauma, and shape the personality and masks needed to face the world.

Act 2 – The Journey through the Underworld

A descent into darkness, confusion, and anxiety. The Fool tries and fails to carry and escape reality and responsibility again and again, until finally exhausted.

Act 3 – The Journey through the Spiritual World

The Fool realises they have been playing the fool and steps out of the costume. Out emerges a worried mother, who discovers that The Black Hole Rug is both stage and meeting place. By inviting other mothers to join her, she begins to face the trouble. Magic occurs: ancestral mothers appear, The Sewing Circle is born, and together they create A Cave of a Thousand Hands.