Alexandria Masse

 

Alexandria Masse is an incredible Canadian crochet textile artist, who decided to crochet her birth control information word for word. 

This is of course a massive undertaking, which she has been poetically carrying out whilst on her period. 

Bakus Oraya

Bakus Oraya uses traditional batik techniques hand-dyeing every garment using methods passed down through generations to create authentic but incredibly modern clothing, retaining its Benin roots.

Liberty's Patchwork Collective

 

A cathedral to the beauty of fabric with over 1500 patches sent in by contributors from all across the world, this is Liberties Patchwork Collective Installation celebrating 150 years of Liberty fabrics. 

From the 9th May – 24th July, you can see the collaborative artwork in store at Liberty. 

This supersized patchwork house comprises over 1,000 patchwork squares – a physical manifestation of the creativity, community, values and talent.

Cecilia Fiona

 

Performance costumes, ceramics and artworks created using organic materials such as paper pulp, shells, branches, rabbit-skin glue, jute, loofah plant and natural pigments by Cecilia Fiona, for a collaborative piece with violinist Sophie Søs Meyer called Ghost Flower Ritual is on now at Copenhagen Contemporary

Jason Gardner

 

Photographer Jason Gardner travelled across 15 countries for 15 years to document traditional Carnival in its myriad of manifestations. Seeking out villages and towns where festivals are at their most folkloric or least visited by outsiders, Gardner collaborated with ethnographers and local experts to engage with and understand each festival which at their core were united by universal themes of ritual, masquerade, identity, roots, and symbolism.

A selection of his vast archive of photographs were published last year in ‘We the Spirits’. 

Mandy Barker

 

Mandy Baker has been scientifically collecting and photographing evidence of plastic (here I don't want to say 'pollution', it is to meek and familiar a word, and plastic presence has gone beyond pollution it is now in our very cells and brains)  'contamination' of our waters. I originally came across Mandy's work when I was working as a Museum technician in Fife and hanging the touring exhibition of Mandy's 'Our Plastic Oceans' At Dunfermline Museum and Gallery, I was impressed by Mandy's thorough and scientific approach to her work. 

Inspired by Anna Atkins 'Cyanotypes of British Algae' published in 1843 artist Mandy Baker had an idea. The eroded plastic based textiles she was finding washed up resembled seaweeds and so she set about to mirror Anna Atkins beautiful works recording seaweeds and mirror it in a Frankenstein way with the modern findings of de-structured plastic textiles to highlight the new chocking horrors of fast-fashion.

Above: Annna Aitkin's cyanotypes of British Algae.

Below: Mandy Bakers gathered textiles.

Above and below: Images from Mandy Barker's 'Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Imperfections’.

Mandy's book is published by Ghost Books and you can buy it here

Say their name say their name . . . Sew Their Names!

This incredible moving documentation/ art work has been instigated by Mary Evers. After a visit to Tate Modern to see an exhibition by Bangladeshi artist Yasmin Jahan Nupur. (see below) 

Yasmin Jahan Nupur's embroidered world map of British colonial territories stirred something within Mary. “It struck me how powerful such a simple act was – using thread to document history and provoke thought,” Mary Evers 

The idea for the "The Gaza Martyrs Project" materialised and Mary set about putting it in motion. 

Mary spent months carefully planning. She sourced Egyptian cotton for its durability and nostalgic ties to her childhood “It also symbolises a shroud – honouring the lives lost,” she explains. 

To reflect the Palestinian flag, Mary chose specific colour codes for the embroidery. Black threads represent Gaza men, red for women and green for children. The creamy white Egyptian cotton represents the white of the flag. Each panel, even without reading the names, visually conveys the demographic impact of the deaths. Some panels, overwhelmingly green, are a haunting reminder of the countless Gaza children killed. It has become a collective endeavour shared between communities with people hearing of it and joining the effort. While Mary plans to limit the project to 30,000 names, the rising death toll may lead to it continuing indefinitely. (source)

"I’ve been sitting with these thoughts today as I prepare the list of names and wonder about each person, who they were, what was their favourite colour, were they in love, did they dance at parties, normal every day things." Mary Evers