Helen Elizabeth Nichols

 

'I Can No Longer Hold Your Body' emerges from a study of hand-lettering through filet crochet to code messages of care, solidarity, and connection with the working class. It responds to a design industry that continues to devalue artistic labor while encouraging competition over collective support. These works inhabit space as a counter-practice to conventional typographic norms, challenging the corporate drive to streamline, commodify, and dilute creative expression.

Approximately 15,500 squares and 150 hours of work make up the piece, and it measures to approx. 5ft x 5ft. Helen Elizabeth Nichols

Helen Nichols graduate show for  MDes Communication Design explored textile lettering.

My practice explores care, communication, and resistance through textiles and typography. Rooted in a lineage of skilled laborers, caregivers, and quiet advocates, I approach design as both a craft and a political act. I work with tactile materials like tufting, crochet, and fabric to reframe protest as soft, slow, and intimate.

Below: Hi