Kokea Kwok

Kokea Kwok is a photographer and designer who has used bedding and textiles to create this series about our relationship with comfort food.

"What do you think about when you are eating?

We have no idea what substances are on our plate and we don't even care where the food comes from. But we see food as the most basic product of the environment.

From the time we are infants, food symbolises comfort and nurturing. Our food choices are partly influenced by family, culture and upbringing. In other words, we rely on our comfort memories and familiar experience to choose food.

The close relationship between humans and food seems to be stable and safe." Kokea Kwok

 

Adelaide V Hall

 

Lace created by Adelaide V Hall a dressmaker, whilst incarcerated at St Elizabeth’s insane asylum in 1917. 

This artwork measures just 9.5 by11.5 inches and shows several figures amidst snakes, insects, and birds, as well as various other symbolic images. Hall explained to her psychologist that work told the story of a woman who longed to be simultaneously a virgin and yet a mother, told with a cast of characters each symbolising some type of sexual relationship: some have anatomically incorrect male genitalia, there is a skeleton, the Virgin Mary, and various couples. Then there is the protagonist, the One Woman, who apparently symbolised Hall herself.

It was associated with the complex relationship Adelaide had with her father who had molested her as a child. Adelaide died at St Elizabeths shortly after WW2.

Isabella Jones-Rigby

After what seems like a lifetime I managed to see the work of this years graduates from ECA's Performance Costume course. Here is one of the creations by Isabella Jones-Rigby for 'The Middnight Runner' by Nalo Hopkinson.

"I wanted to explore different design styles and further my construction knowledge. Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson was chosen as I wanted to focus on a Caribbean story. It is rare to see Caribbean sci-fi in degree work so I enjoyed researching more into my own culture and educating myself and others through my work. The character Tan-Tan  in her Robber Queen costume represents overcoming trauma and self discovery with inspiration taken from the Trinidadian carnival character, The Midnight Robber." Isabella Jones-Rigby

Sandra Junele

Sandra Junele has been working with waste thread and wool from the studio floor, re designating it as an exciting raw material to create fabrics that can be used for product design making decorative wall panels,  tough surfaces and lamp shades. 

"When should a material be classified as waste? As a future focused designer, I am dedicated to developing sustainable practices. It is crucial that we take responsibility for the lifecycle of the things we design and make. The key process I developed involved mixing the shredded yarn with glue which could then be formed and moulded into various shapes. As circularity is a fundamental part of this project, I used an organic homemade glue. This allows the final material to be broken back down, by placing it in water, and reused potentially endless times. The material is lightweight, dries firm and has many possible applications. Driven by a strong interest in interior design I have used the material to create bold wall panels exploring colour and form and celebrating the natural surface texture created by the yarn fibres. Further embellishment has been added with a range of sewing and mixed media techniques embedded within or added to the surface." Sandra Junele

Mauro Frazão

 

Mauro Frazão creates wall sculptures from wool using techniques from rug making. His soft flowing forms often inspired by landscapes and elements of nature.

Anya Paintsil

 

Anya Paintsil makes large works of 'hairy art' often incorporating her own hair, using a punch needle and a latch hook and borrowing from techniques used for rag rug making and punch needling both techniques are born of poverty and learned from her grandmother.

“The association with the domestic, the creative output of working-class women historically, and accessibility is also important to me: Rug hooking was most often carried out in the home by women with very basic and cheap tools and fabric. You can create very large rugs without needing a big loom or other types of expensive apparatus.” Anya Paintsil

These works are large and challenging not dainty and easily ignored.  

Jade Pegler

 

Textile compositions and sculptures by Jade Pegler using recycled fabrics and techniques of sashiko.