RCA2020 Graduates offer a fresh look on contemporary textile practices.
As part of London Craft Week and one year after their digital show, the RCA2020 Graduates offer a fresh look on contemporary textile practices, reinvigorating the disciplines of art, craft and design.
The RCA2020 Textile Graduates are builders of narratives, spaces and objects. From five streams - Knit, Mixed Media, Print, Soft Systems and Weave - you’ll find a diversity of approaches to the craft of textile making; in its construction, preservation and interactivity.
As Constructors, they translate worlds that encounter new territories with intended purpose, interweaving construction methods that are contrasting yet form harmonious environments.
As Preservers, they breathe new life into forms, substances and stories, reflecting on past rituals to drive change toward fostering, sustaining and protecting the ecosystems.
As Responders, they playfully interact with the senses that inform alternative behaviours towards futures which are responsive, sensitive and conscious.
Having graduated during England's first lockdown in 2020, their work reflects resilience in the face of adversity. The graduates re-worked, re-designed and re-envisioned their practices, adapting from the tactile environments of textile studios to the novel spaces of digital media.
Now, with the world slowly opening up, they reach back to the core of their craft, forever changed by experiences of last year.
Curated by Sylwia Orynek, one of the graduates and now a PhD researcher, the One Year On exhibition showcases the ambiguity of contemporary textiles, as processes, tools and materials become hybrid - analogue and digital, personal and remote, fiercely crossing the boundaries of disciplines.