Patched Narratives: textile narratives for VE Day 8th – 23rd May artists Sarah Gray, Laura Roberts Bevan, Sarah Newson, Marcia Lois Riddington, Linda Bassett and Jill Denton
After finding and rescuing some school blazers in landfill last year, a group of artists decided to breathe new life into them. They were made from good quality tweed and although they had been discarded and were not all in a great state of repair, the blazers were still full of life and history.
Some of the artists decided to focus on their wearability by adjusting and embellishing them for use, and others decided to use the jackets as a canvas for storytelling. Patched Narratives is the result, opening here on the 8th May and continuing to 23rd May.
With the approaching anniversary of VE Day as a focus, the project became an opportunity to explore what that period was like at that time, particularly for the artists’ families. They embroidered snippets of their family history on the jackets, often stitching as a group and chatting as they worked. Their conversations about the past and their families slowly became part of the stitched narratives over time, woven into the colourful fabric of these textiles which also include a work coat, a rag rug, a children’s quilt and a tablecloth.
Patched Narratives celebrates this collaboration as well as the resourcefulness, making do and the reinvention that we now associate with that period. It also shows how we can all be creative and individualise and extend the life of our everyday clothing.
