Coming from a background in Mixed Media (textiles), I’m always interested to see how fibre and fabric are used in the expression of ideas.
Viewed by the predominantly male Fine Art world as “craft” and historically gendered as female (i.e. of lesser importance) by scholars, textiles as fine art has had to fight against much discrimination.
This exhibition, Unravel: the power and politics of textiles in art at the Barbican Gallery, showed the work of 50 international artists.
Bandaged Grid #9 is deeply unsettling: using the language of abstraction the piece references wounds and blood, the remnants of some traumatic incident.
As Sheila Hicks states, “you can’t go anywhere in the world without touching fibre”.
In Family Treasures, she asked friends and family to donate their most cherished item of clothing which she then wrapped in yarn. These bundles remind us of what we hold dear.
Textiles are at the core of our existence: we are wrapped in it at birth, clothed during our lives and wrapped again in death.
T.Vinoja experienced first-hand the war in Sri Lanka. This piece is an aerial memory map of events and places.
The reverse is important to look at too.
Louise Bourgeois is famous for her use of fabric – see one of my previous posts about her work.
Several artists had removed their work from the gallery in protest to the Barbican’s cancellation of a London Review of Books lecture by Pankaj Mishra about the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the creeping normalisation of censorship across art institutions. Much as I agree with their views, I found Yee I Lann‘s response more powerful than a simple omission.
Their statement on the table in front of the installation explained why. I hope you are able to read it.
