Featured Artists
Shaheen Ahmed
Birmingham-based artist Shaheen Ahmed uses maps to reflect narratives of statelessness and disparagement. Her work is layered with a multitude of craft processes and motifs including calligraphy and Islamic geometry. The artist wore a blindfold while making the maps as a way to connect with the experiences of those afflicted by suffering against their will.
Lorna Hamilton-Brown
East Sussex-based artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown, known for her subversive textile works that challenge preconceptions of knitting and crochet, created a knitted magazine cover - ‘We Mek’- full of symbolism with a central figure inspired by political activist Angela Davis and with her watch set to 9.25, the time that George Floyd lost his life to police brutality.
An artwork commissioned as part of the Yarnadelic Remixes 0.1 project titled 'Woman Blue - Elevate' was also on display. The artwork is Lorna’s response to a music-box punch card and research conducted by KNITSONIK and Labistrake into the song Woman Blue (also known as ‘I Know You Rider’). A video discussion about the song choice and its symbolism was also exhibited and is now available to watch on YouTube.
Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings
British-Sudanese textile artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings presented a new light installation. Incorporating dying, screen-printing and Devoré techniques, the work explored themes of identity, communication, heritage, and womanhood. The artist is influenced by her Sudanese heritage which is reflected in her use of Arabic geometry, colour, and form.
Francisca Onumah
Ghanaian-born silversmith Francisca Onumah created three emotive and figurative vessels to reflect family, relationships and historical images of Ghanaian people in everyday life. The grouping of these anthropomorphic vessels depicted the importance of community and support. Their abstracted patterns were deconstructed from traditional Ghanaian motifs, fabrics, and crafted objects. Onumah’s newly commissioned work 'In our skin' (2021) took the form of vessels, elegantly reflecting subtle qualities between relationships, strength and support. Marks and textures were repeatedly hammered into sheet metal to mirror and resemble the patterns found in textiles and fabrics - the artist described this process as “therapeutic”.
Onome Otite
London-based artist Onome Otite created a new textile work inspired by the support network between women. The group of figures in her piece were based on close friends who have inspired the artist. She has also intentionally chosen five figures to mirror the relevance of the five women taking part in the We Gather exhibition. Onome hand-stitched loose folded fabrics across her hand-drawn figures, which were donated by each of her subjects.