A series of large-scale textile hangings inspired by the patina of the Bargehouse’s walls, ceilings and floors reflect the various uses this historic building has been through, from an industrial warehouse to its current use as an exhibition and events venue.

The walls and floors of this building have become multi-coloured, cracks revealing layers of colour beneath, brightly coloured dots of the heads of raw plugs from each exhibition that is hung there, the dark red of the original brickwork, dark green tiles, with a myriad of different hues of white. The different surfaces of the smooth, shininess of tiling, the roughness of the exposed brickwork and the flaking cracked paintwork all overlap and butt up against each other. Nothing is even, everything seems random, yet all those marks and colours have had an intent at some point. There is nothing decorative about these, they all performed a purpose that has happened and gone.

Textile Art installation — Materials: cotton organdie with silk, cotton, voile, linen, ripstock nylon patchwork; silk and cotton threads; glass & plastic beads; sequins

The panels are predominantly white and translucent. They have a ghostly, airy feel, like pieces of fabric caught and held in time. The surface is patchworked, based on traditional Korean techniques, where patches are not even, lines are not straight and the fabric, is scraps of discarded material. All seams are finished but are visible. The fabrics used are mainly deadstock or donated, although cotton organdie is the main one within the panels there are silks, cottons, voiles, linen, ripstop nylon, organzas and others. Some came in metres others just in scraps, however just as the surfaces in the Bargehouse each had an original intended use: leftovers from fashion, film and theatre costume, the remnants of a silk parachute, millinery, art pieces, personal sewing projects……… Many of the threads and beads used to tell the same story.

Embroidery Stitches on textile banners — Techniques: traditional hand embroidery stitches & needle beading

Again reflecting the building, some areas of the patchwork are made of large pieces, with a few seams breaking the surface, however, in others, the patches are small and dense. The whites across the panels change depending on the fabric, as does the transparency, clear in some areas and opaque in others, with blocks of colour dotted throughout. On top of this is the embroidery, all taken from very particular small details. A pistachio green-coloured plaster wall has cracked and a pink has appeared along the lines, the shapes made by the cracks seem to form odd petals & buds, as if a strange type of flower is emerging. A white line over dark green tiles. An edge between smooth white tiles that have been filled roughly with cement and then onto flaking white plaster, the original surface violently disrupted and broken. A tiny area of filler that has been piped onto a tile, appearing like a lichen growing on the surface. A number of the panels are dotted with large brightly coloured discs reflecting the raw plug holes that now cover the walls.

The back of the work is visible and the edges are left unfinished. Threads run across from one patch of work to another. Like the building in some areas, you have a feel of what it might originally been like, in others there is just the whisper. As with the panels, from one side there is the intended design, but from another, it is the shadow, but both are equally visually and texturally interesting.

These pieces were made with the help of students from the Royal School of Needlework.

Reclaim | A Site-Specific Textile Installation at the Bargehouse

Tree Ring | Time and Purpose in Textile Art