The Subversiver Stitcher
For as long as I can remember I have always been making something. In retrospect, I may well have picked this desire to create up from my nan and my mum, who were always making something as well.
I was an analogue child that was closer to the make do and mend generation than the digital children of the 21 century, who have a screen that feeds their desires, but not necessarily their creativity.
For that I will always be truly grateful.
I always loved to embroider, but as the years passed and my life became more focused on single parenting and domestic issues, I seemed to have lost the desire to create. I just lost my creative mojo.
Then one day, several years ago, I attended an exhibition on mental health and saw the most incredible sight. It was a sampler that had been sewn by an inmate of a Victorian Asylum.
The inmate Mary Frances Heaton had used a needle and thread and other accessible materials to petition Queen Victoria about her own personal experiences of her own social injustice that had befallen her.
In that moment, as I stood there looking at this piece. I was transfixed and amazed by her ingenuity and her passion to be heard.
Her passion reignited my desire to create and to use embroidery and textiles as a basis to draw attention to social issues and to empower women, especially those that deserve more attention than afforded them.
Mary was incarcerated for 41 years, but she never gave up using her voice. I like to think you can hear an echo of her in mine.
Since then, my work has featured in solo exhibitions as well a group shows.
I am continuously inspired and welcome all interest in my work, exhibitions, commissions and collaborations,
I am happy to report that my creative desire has now been fully reinstated.
Exhibitions
2018
Fighting Talk/Shefest 2 – 15 March Chapel Walk Galley Sheffield
https://www.shefest.org.uk/fringe-festival-2018/fighting-talk-an-art-exhibition
Dame of the Hour 6 – 22 March St James Wine Vaults Bath
https://www.bathspa.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/dame-of-the-hour-exhibition/
Thumbnail Group Show 9 May – 23 May Nolia's Gallery London
Solo Show 19 June – 29 July 44AD Artspace Bath
http://www.44ad.net/associate-artist-events.html
50/50 Group Show 3 August – 23 August Crow's Nest Gallery London
https://www.artistic-uk.org/50-50
Cash is King 30 August – 8 September The Saatchi Gallery London https://www.rebelnottaken.com/cash-is-king
http://saatchistore.saatchigallery.com/147-cash-is-king
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-new-european/20180830/281552291726909
BLACK Group Show 18 December - 20 December The Crypt Gallery Euston Road,
London,
NW1 2BA
http://cryptgallery.org/event/black/
Work donated to Fivers4artists https://www.artistic-uk.org/fivers-for-artistic Cas
2019
Viva Iconic Group Show May 18 - Viva Dalston 2 Stoke Newington Rd, Hackney Downs, London N16 7XN
One Love Group Show May 26 - London
Cash is King 2 Money Talks - Notes featured in the second publication, exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery 21 August - 8 September.
Cash is King - Mad in Margate Group Show - 18 October - 3 November
Artgame 18 Marine Drive, Margate, Kent UK CT9 1DH https://www.artgame.co.uk/event/mad-in-margate-private-view/
For The Love Of Money Art Exhibition - 9 November - 31 December Studio 45, 45 Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU
S.E.W International Contemporary Stitched Art Exhibition - https://www.societyforembroideredwork.com/events.html 12 November - 17 November The Clerkenwell Gallery, 20 Clerkenwell Road, London, EC1R 0DP
The Foreplay Art Show -1 of 4 Female Artists Group Show 24 November - 31 December
At The Other One Gallery Art Space 1 The Cockpit, Saffron Walden, Essex
CB10 1HJ
5 YEARS 50 PHING THINGS CHRISTMAS CHARITY AUCTION - The Ben Oakley Gallery Greenwich Market, 9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich, London, SE10 9JA - 14 December
https://www.benoakleygallery.com/5-years-50-phing-things/
2021
The Time of Her Life Virtual Group Show May 1-31 https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/
Hands Off The Wall
Street Art & Graffiti Festival For Women 30 July - 1 August Munich
https://www.handsoffthewall.com/
The Volatile State Virtual Group Show August 1 - 31 https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/
Background Bob and His Amazing Friends Guess Who's Back - Firstsite, Lewis Gardens, High Street,
Colchester, Essex, CO1 1JH18 September 2021 - Sunday 9 January 2022 https://firstsite.uk/event/background_bob-and-his-amazing-friends-guess-whos-back/
London International Paste-Up Festival November 4 - 7
Mirror Mirror on the Wall - The House of Smalls 6 November - 4 December
https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/mirrormirroronthewall
2022
The Covid Chronicles Touring Exhibitions UK 2022 - 2023
https://www.thecovidchronicle.org/
I Am Woman Project
Instagram @iamwomanproject - To create 2D panel/banner/hanging featuring a woman constructed from individual fabric patches denoting the experiences of women.
Confined - The House of Smalls 15 May - June 12
https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/confined
Shadow - The House of Smalls 26 - 29 August
https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/shadow
Time of Her Life II - The House of Smalls 26 - 29 August
https://www.thehouseofsmalls.art/thetimeofherlifeii
Publications & Interviews
Cash is King 2018
Cash is King 2 2019
https://www.rebelnottaken.com/product-page/cash-is-king-2-book
Unravelling Women's Art 2020/21
https://www.mrxstitch.com/unravelling-womens-art/
Background Bob 2 2021
https://inspiringcity.com/2021/02/25/background-bob-creates-amazing-art-for-charity/
The Covid Chronicles 2022
https://www.thecovidchronicle.org/
Embroidery Magazine 2022
https://shop.exacteditions.com/embroidery-magazine
Workshops
2022
The Fashion and Textile Museum - Subversive Stitching
https://fashiontextilemuseum.org/
Collaborations
I Am Woman Project 2022 - Instagram @iamwomanproject22
A joint collaborations between myself and several female artists to create a woman out of patches that record their experience of being a woman. Ongoing, submissions by the end of September 2022.
Making you think with a needle and thread