Last Chance to See: Perfection: A Question of Repair
There are just days left to catch Perfection: a Question of Repair at the John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Craft (on view until 29 November 2025). Guest curated by British textile artist and mender Celia Pym, this thoughtful exhibition brings the power of repair into sharp, tender focus. Rather than striving for a flawless finish, Pym and the participating artists invite visitors to consider mending as an act that honours damage and holds it up to the light rather than hides it away.
Mended Test Sweater, WYP and Celia Pym
Borrowing its title from artist Kader Attia, the exhibition asks what happens when we stop thinking of scars, wear, and aging as signs of decline. Many of the works included resist the notion of a perfect object. Instead, they dwell in the textures of the everyday: worn cloth, softened wood, cracked ceramics, and the familiar warmth of materials that have lived other lives before this one. Mending here is understood not only as a technical gesture, but as reconciliation and an effort to restore, understand, and pay attention. As Pym writes, darning consists of “small acts of care,” and this philosophy threads through the gallery.
Abdulrazaq Awofeso, OKRIKA Folded Shirt.
The exhibition’s roster spans continents and craft traditions. Abdulrazaq Awofeso’s OKRIKA sculptures, carved from discarded transportation pallets, confront the environmental and social toll of the second-hand clothing trade in Nigeria. In contrast, Breaks & Joins—an interdisciplinary collective formed by Chuck Blue Lowry and Sue Mayo—offers repair as resistance, drawing on conversations with menders from poets to nurses. Their guiding principle, gifted by textile specialist Rose Sinclair, resonates across the show: “The mend must always be much bigger than the tear.”
Metzmama’s Dishcloth, detail.
Collaboration is another hallmark. In France, the Waste Yarn Project’s chance-driven knitwear meets Pym’s own mending interventions, transforming surplus yarn into garments and blankets alive with visible repair. Southern quilter Zak Foster contributes narrative-rich textiles made from repurposed materials, while UK-based artist Rachael Matthews expands her long-standing inquiry into textile waste, mindful making, and the emotional labour embedded in cloth.
Fracture by Rachel Meginnes
Several artists explore generational and communal repair. Rachel Meginnes deconstructs found quilts to enter into dialogue with their original makers, and the Collective Mending Sessions led by Catherine Reinhart bring together more than 500 participants to restore abandoned quilts, turning neglect into shared authorship and renewed purpose.
Papaw’s Chair, Katrina Perdue
As Perfection: a question of repair reaches its final week, it offers a moving reminder that mending is both material and emotional work. Imperfection is not a flaw but a record of life lived—and an invitation to care more deeply.
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Further Information:
Perfection: a Question of Repair is on now at the John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Craft, until 29 November 2025.
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Image Credits:
Lead: Mended Pastry Bag (2023), Celia Pym
All further images as credited in photo captions.