Ai Weiwei 'Buttoned Up'

 

Flags, the talismans of state, country, authority, the standard bearers for sport and its bloody cousin war, 

are currently sickeningly ever present in modern Britain. Virtue signalling "nationalism', to right wingers who clothe their lack of morals, tolerance and judgement in flags, using them to fan the flames of intolerance, hatred and anger, in a country in crisis, aflame with global warmed fires, idiocy and injustice. 

I'm in Manchester, it is swaddled in smoke and heat. The moors are on fire and have been for days due to some people mourning their friend with fireworks during a heatwave. 

Meanwhile the orange men of Ulster have piled pyres of pallets and hatred, burning out homes as a result of their insane bigotry. France is on fire, Spain is on fire, Wales is on fire and on it goes. 

Humans fight while the beautiful world burns, fear grows and the inconsequentiality of all their endeavours is reduced to nonsense in the face of the destruction and death of a liveable planet. 

The flags shown here are 'pearly kings and queens of flags', Ai Weiwei's monumental button flags from "Buttoned Up' his new exhibition that opened this week at 'Factory International' in Manchester, inspired by Manchester's history as the workshop of the world. 

Ai Wei responded to a tweet in 2019 from a button wholesaler A Brown & Co in Croydon that was closing down and trying to find a home for it's stock; 30 tones of buttons. Ai Weiwei bought the lot and in each tiny, unremarkable, readymade button Ai Weiwei saw the story of globalisation,  and linked ideas of labor and industrial capitalism between England and China.

“Several years ago I purchased a huge number of buttons from A.Brown & Co Buttons in Croydon. There are more than 9,000 kinds of buttons and they weigh almost 30 tonnes”. The buttons took two years to sort through before being used to sew onto fabric and make the flags.The flags were made by 33 artisans in Shandong and took 281 days to complete”.        Ai Weiwei

The flags represent the eight-nation alliance of Britain, US, Japan, France and the Austrian-Hungarian empire who invaded China in 1900 -1901 to forcefully reopen its ports. Ai Weiwei has woven together narratives of industrialisation, colonialism and historic violence into a complex representation of modern history. 

The button flags are also very representative of a post industrial, post empire Britain, it's workers robbed and asset stripped, it's people abandoned, deluded by snake oil politicians and a ruling elite no longer bound by rules of state or country, still plundering.  

“The world today is deeply divided, with tragedy all around. Understanding history goes hand in hand with standing up for truth and justice.” Ai Weiwei

This exhibition is so much more than the buttons that brought me to it and I urge you to go and see it, it runs until September the 6th. 

Chi Wei

 

Chi Wei's pixilating beaded wonders from her graduate collection for  London Central Saint Martins.

Kirsten Harper

 

Exploring the decay, preservation and curation of objects, I found inspiration in the aging of old buildings like Rosslyn Chapel and Glasgow Cathedral, the methods of protecting and displaying artefacts in GSA’s Archives and through my own collection of oddities. My practice is motivated by texture, experimenting in transforming a textile’s qualities with the introduction of substances like wax or the removal of threads, as well as incorporating found materials such as vintage fur and animal bones. Each piece in the collection uses exclusively hand-stitch methods, and almost all my materials (including yarn and thread) were sourced second-hand – giving them a new purpose and allowing for tactile closeness to the past and present. Kirsten Harper

Fin Maguire

 

Finlay Maguire's BA Hon's collection at Central St Martins, bold and amazing!

Katherine Murphy

The overall theme of my personal project is Nostalgia, stemming from a collection of childhood photos gathered as primary visual research. These photos have been carefully selected through colour palette, composition and the people within them. 

The final pieces are a collection of one-off embroidered ‘keepsakes’ due to the personal nature of the research. Each piece captures memories and provokes nostalgia to the viewer through stitched visual storytelling. I hope that this would lead to commission-based work for those wishing to capture a moment of life through a one-off textile piece. With this in mind, this specific project is a commission to myself and my family. Katherine Murphy

 

 

Rianne Gilchrist

“My project, The Context of Joy, is an imagination of Scottish micro seasons, periods of time shorter than traditional seasons. Influenced by my upbringing in the Scottish Highlands these pockets of time all centre around our natural world. The budding of chanterelles, the midsummer light trough green trees, crisp white show in the sunshine. These contrasting events each united in the joy they can bring.

The natural world is in continuous motion, influencing my collection, with a focus on bringing joy to the wearer through playful, voluminous silhouettes. My work is designed to flow and move with the wearer as they interact with the world around them encouraging a state of play.” Rianne Gilchrist

Abbie Smith

 

'Sword Dance' is born from my old dancehall back home on the West coast, its scent of varnished floors and mustiness lingers still, a keepsake of a buried part of self. Here, as a ballet and Highland dancer, the swords were danced, a depiction of a Highland battle triumph. Music is at the root of world creation. Heritage is revisited through the sound of post-punk – heavy, powerful, driving.

These seemingly opposing worlds finds threads of familiarity, underpinned by a sense of movement. Highland militaristic structures reflect the precision and discipline of dance, softened through fabric, colour and texture, drawing on the classicism of ballet. Music performance informs undone elements, a manipulation of tradition. Abbie Smith