A Defiant Stitch: Soft Power at the RWA
In a corner of Bristol’s Royal West of England Academy (RWA), amidst a swirl of colour and cloth, hangs a story of defiance, resilience, and hope. The Gift of Giving is an unflinching declaration of one woman’s refusal to let circumstance or gender dictate her path. Created by Afghan refugee women in collaboration with Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui, CEO of Polly and Other Stories, the work pulses with conviction - a personal uprising stitched into cloth, and a gesture of empowerment and survival. It commands attention in the textile exhibition, Soft Power: Lives Told Through Textile Art, now showing at the RWA.
2 Together, Alice Kettle.
Curated by textile art trailblazer Professor Alice Kettle alongside Professor Lesley Millar MBE, Soft Power brings together stories told in thread and fabric from across the world. This powerful exhibition is a rare gathering of voices - some speaking for the first time on UK soil - each using textiles as a vessel for truth.
"Textile is something we encounter daily. Its familiarity creates an immediate connection between artist and viewer, making these stories feel both intimate and universal," reads a line from the exhibition catalogue, capturing the heart of Soft Power.
Susie Mccmurray, Widow
From Ellen Sharples’ delicate 1792 embroidery to Audrey Walker’s bold twentieth-century statements, Soft Power weaves histories and futures into a single, breathtaking narrative. Here, Susie MacMurray’s sculpture of dressmakers’ pins mourns loss, while works by Maryam Wahid, Anurita Chandola, and Lasmin Salmon reflect migration, heritage, and the fragments of home carried across borders.
Shelly Goldsmith, Princess Pyramid
The textiles exhibited seem to hold the room still. In their fibres, we feel the quiet strength of women asserting their identities and through cloth. It is a defiant reminder of how textiles, often dismissed as mere domestic craft, are powerful vessels for resistance and storytelling.
Lise Bjorne Linnert, 365 Days (detail)
Cloth speaks a universal language. It touches skin, carries memories, and binds us together. As Professor Kettle notes, these works “highlight how cloth can connect women across cultures, recording and reflecting their experiences.” The pieces in Soft Power do more than tell personal stories; they create a shared space for recognition and empathy.
Erin M Riley, Clean the front door
At a time when the world often feels fragmented and uncertain, Soft Power invites us to lean in - to listen to the whispers of thread and the boldness of colour. To honour lives told not through words, but through stitches of survival, hope, and profound human connection.
Those who walk through the RWA’s doors this season will encounter in Soft Power an invitation to see strength in vulnerability, to recognise the defiance in beauty, and to understand that textiles are not just objects, but symbols of lives being lived, histories remembered, and futures woven together.
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Further Information:
Soft Power: Lives Told Through Textile Art runs at the RWA until 10 August 2025. For more information:
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Image Credits:
LEAD: Sabine Kaner, When the Boat Comes In.
All other images as credited in photo captions.