The Power and Politics of Textiles certainly seems to be in the news at the moment. If you read my article earlier this week the mother and the weaver at the foundling museum, you’ll have figured out that I find this connection fascinating.



Art School
I’m writing this after visiting Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art.
And as I read with alarm that the Arts Council England has announced an update to its policies, warning that “political statements” made by individuals linked to an organisation can cause “reputational risk and may breach funding agreements”. What?
In my own 1990 Art School thesis: “women in design from a feminist viewpoint”; a major section covers the Ateliers of the Sufragette movement, and their creative banner work. If you want to read it (Arts Council England*), I’ll dig it out for you.
And this week, with the announcement of the new London Overground section names including the WEAVER line and the SUFFRAFETTE line, it’s like kismet to me 🙂 (infographic thanks to the BBC)

Reading List
I’ve also made a list of textiles books over on Bookshop.org that you might enjoy if this is of interest to you too, and I’ll be adding the Barbican’s catalogue supporting the launch of their new exhibition as soon as it’s available.


Photo: Ruth Eaton


The exhibition – Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art
But all of that is an aside and outpouring following a really wonderful almost three hours at the press preview at the Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art exhibition at the Barbican.
Unravel explores how textiles have been used by artists from the Sixties onwards, to question structures of gender, identity and power.

A selection of international, intergenerational artists use textiles, fibre and thread to weave stories, challenge power and reimagine the world.
With Sheila Hicks and Louise Bourgeois (also at the Foundling Museum exhibition) Georgina Maxim, Cecilia Vicuña, Faith Ringgold, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Pacita Abad, Igshaan Adams (this will be on my instagram as a REEL as I didn’t have any good photos), Antonio Jose Guzman & Iva Jankovic, Tracey Emin, Yinka Shonibare and more.



This show Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, runs until 26 May, 2024 so I don’t want to spoil the experience for you by sharing TOO many photographs, however if London is too far away I urge you to vicariously visit via the many videos being shared on the Barbican’s social media.
Explore life, hope, strength and resistance through the subversive power of textiles, presented in over 100 works from 50 international artists.




Who doesn’t love a gallery shop?
If you have the time and energy after the show, the exhibition shop is very well curated too. Some incredibly well selected books (including Sarah Corbett’s How to be a Craftivist publication) and exhibition merch, seeing the Feliciano Centurion Eye on socks and keyrings made me want to go back into the exhibition, to take a second look!
And there’s a lovely example of weaving on the shop wall, enticing me to the Weaving Workshop with Christabel Balfour that takes place Sat 13 Apr – Sun 5 May 2024 click here.





Hair embroidery on fabric

I would also recommend a walk around the Barbican estate – see if you can spot a resident watering their plants! If you’d like to learn more about the Barbican, may I recommend a Talking Volumes 2021 podcast episode.
Click here to listen. The Barbican: through its onion-layered network of public and private spaces and passageways; and its ideological foundations in the Modernist notions of ‘Blank Slate’ planning, and its relationship to the architectural style of Brutalism.

I’ll make a reel next week and pop it up on instagram, so make sure you’re following me over there as @incredibusy too.
Book tickets for the Unravel exhibition here. And if like me, you enjoy a curator-led tour, book for the 14th March with Lotte Johnson.
More gallery news to follow soon 🙂
*updated 19 Feb to include a link to Katy Hessel’s Guardian article “You can’t ban embroidery! Why Arts Council England’s crackdown is a stitch-up”.
I have read that since we visited, six artists (and lenders) have requested that nine artworks be removed from view.
The Barbican Centre has installed a plinth with text reading: “These works have been withdrawn at the request of the lenders, as an act of solidarity with Palestine, in response to the Barbican’s decision to not host the London Review of Books (LRB) Winter Lecture Series.”
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