Thread Bearing Witness

My crochet/knit group went to see the Alice Kettle exhibition at the Whitworth Art Gallery today.

From the Barberini Tapestries to the Bayeux Tapestry, monumental textiles in the form of large-scale narrative embroideries, weaving and tapestries have been used to illustrate contemporary events to become enduring material chronicles. ‘Thread Bearing Witness’ is a major new series of large textiles that consider cultural heritage, refugee displacement and movement, while engaging with individual migrants and their creativity within the wider context of the global refugee crisis.
 
Alice Kettle is a highly regarded contemporary artist focused upon stitched textiles, a powerful medium through which to explore these themes. Thread Bearing Witness represents displacement though the migration of stitches, using the three strands of artistic representation, participation and creative resilience, testing ways of belonging within a cultural space, and using textile as a medium of integration, collective expression and resilience to displacement.
 
The three main pieces were really striking, absolutely huge and contained so many powerful images.

'Stitch a Tree', the project in the background of my main blip, was a collaborative project with refugee children. The people who worked in the refugee camp in Dunkirk used the Tree of Life motif to begin conversations with the children about strength and resilience. The stitched trees form a collective forest, as a symbol of the connection between communities and individuals across the UK, and to show support for displaced people around the world.
 
We were also treated to a rather sultry fan dance in the wallpaper collections room!!

Quote for today:
The tree of life is self pruning.
- Joel Determan