Bea Bonafini is part of group show Subversive Stitch at TJ Boulting ~ opening Wednesday 13 February

Subversive Stitch

Gillian Wearing, Lilah Fowler, James Merry, Hrafnhildur Arnardottir / Shoplifter, HelenA Pritchard, Charlotte Edey, Bea Bonafini, Olga Frantskevich, Gal Leshem, Yelena Popova, Amanda Ross-Ho, Judith Scott, Marianne Thoermer, Celia Pym, Yemi Awosile

TJ Bouting

Opening Wednesday 13 February 2019 6:30 - 8:30pm

Exhibition continues 14 February - 23 March 2019

TJ Boulting is proud to present ‘Subversive Stitch’, a group show of textile-based works, incorporating embroidery, weaving, carpet, tapestry, clothes and sculpture. The title is taken from the 1984 book by feminist art historian Rozsika Parker ‘The Subversive Stitch – Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine’, and subsequent 1988 touring exhibition in Manchester at the Whitworth and Cornerhouse curated by Pennina Barnett. For centuries embroidery had been a craft most closely aligned with women, holding connotations of domestic and the feminine, and ranked below the fine art mediums of painting and sculpture. Then, in the wake of William Morris and the Arts and Craft movement of the late 19th century, and continuing via the Suffrage Movement of the early 20th, it made its burgeoning presence felt when empowered women artists harnessed its use, subverting the very medium that had previously defined their position in art and society. Today although it is still heavily, if no longer solely, a woman’s medium, its subversive legacy continues; embracing the political, the innovative, the technical and often unconventional, whilst redefining its status as a serious art form.

During the exhibition there will be a workshop run by artist and textile designer Yemi Awosile. In 'Sweat Shop' participants can customise a collection of subversive badges using pre-made digital stitched letters and components. They can create a logo or bring an item of clothing to embellish. Spaces limited, details of how to book will be online shortly.

For more information on this exhibition, click here.