I was commissioned to create a site specific participatory commission, a new treasure for the new treasures gallery as part of a National Lottery funded project to restore the cloisters at Exeter Cathedral, create a cafe and a space to show some of their amazing archive. Thinking about the significance the church still holds within a more secular society – the need it can fulfil for ritual and sanctuary each section of the 2m by 1.5m triptych focuses on the themes of birth/new beginnings, marriage/union and death/presence of absence/grief/loss/.
I worked with 108 participants from A level textile students at Exeter College, children and parents at Exeter Library, staff, volunteers and the wonderfully skilled Tapisers at the cathedral, and the charities of St Petrocks, Hikmat and CoLab, with the excellent help and assistance of Lis Spencer, Community Outreach and Partnerships Officer. The participants worked with the same themes and processes I used, disperse dyes and heat transfer and also cyanotype on fabric, with the option of adding stitching to create other textures and details. Taking A4 pieces of polyester satin, polyester crepe de chine or cotton to create with and then a 10cm viewing circle to select a smaller ‘jewel’. These jewels became a series of vertical lines of circles that delineate the different sections of the triptych and converse with each other.
The act of making elicited intimate and oft vulnerable conversations about the themes we were working with. There is something magical that happens when people make together, a safe space is created and conversations deepen.
Workshops
Birth
Death
Marriage
Finishes Textile Triptyph
