Gallery > Exhibition pieces

Commission for Shire Hall Gallery exhibition 'Talking Textiles'. Shire Hall Art Gallery, Stafford. 12 January - 10 March 2013

 

Criminal Quilts

This group of work was created for a commission for Shire Hall Gallery in late 2012. When I visited the Shire Hall I was immediately fascinated by the Victorian photographs of criminals with their hands on their chests. I have used the motif of hands to create a collection exploring the layers of history embedded within the building and within the lives of the women shown in the photographs. Several of the pieces take the form of miniature quilts which refer back to the domestic lives of these women. I am also very much influenced by the types of clothing and fabrics they might have known during their life times. The muted colour palette I have chosen also links to the sepia-toned photographs as well as the structure of the building in wood, stone and lead. Read more about the exhibition and my development of the work here. There are images of all six pieces here.