5 Minutes with Liaqat Rasul: Memory, Making and the Factory Floor
Now in its ninth year, Art in Manufacturing places artists directly on the factory floor. One of this year's commissions is by Liaqat Rasul, a queer Welsh-Pakistani artist whose work unfolds among the machines of Herbert Parkinson, a John Lewis textile factory in Darwen, Lancashire.
Rasul, who works in collage and sculpture, transforms discarded materials - fabric offcuts, tickets, wire hangers - into compositions that explore identity, care and mental health. At Herbert Parkinson, he has been gathering offcuts and reflections from the people who make the cushions, curtains and soft furnishings that fill homes across the UK. The result is a series of sculptural mobiles that examine memory, community and who we become through making.
Liaqat Rasul's textural sculptures, created during the residency with Art in Manufacturing. Photo by Robin Zahler.
This collaboration is part of the Art in Manufacturing strand of the National Festival of Making, an initiative that pairs UK manufacturers with artists. Since its inception in 2016, the programme has supported over 35 artists in exploring the creative potential of industry, connecting hand, heart and machine. Rasul's partnership is with Herbert Parkinson. The factory, which joined the John Lewis Partnership in 1953, employs over 200 people and has maintained British manufacturing at the heart of Lancashire for decades. Combining modern technology with traditional skills, they produce everything from duvets to made-to-measure soft furnishings.
Installation detail, Liaqat Rasul. Photo by Robin Zahler
For Rasul, who recently held a 25-year retrospective at Tŷ Pawb in Wrexham, this project is both personal and political. His work often celebrates resilience, multiculturalism and overlooked histories, finding resonance in Darwen's post-industrial landscape. His mobiles, suspended from the ceiling, contrast with the structure and repetition of the factory floor - acts of care and remembrance emphasising tangible engagement and community bonds. The factory floor becomes a space where his advocacy for multiculturalism and support networks finds new expression through the daily rhythms of industrial making.
We caught up with Rasul as part of our 5 minutes with a friend interview series to discuss how textiles influence his creative practice:
5 Minutes with a Friend: Liaqat Rasul
Liaqat Rasul. Photo Credit: Danny Allison/Robin Zahler
Liaqat, what is your first memory of a textile?
My mothers brocade garara, a wide length trouser worn with a Kamiz, a pakistani outfit. I remember thinking my mum was the coolest dressed person ever.
Can you put into words what you love about textiles?
Whatever part of the world you are in, you will see a village making and creating an embroidery, print or woven piece that reflects the history, talent and culture specific to that place. Textiles are a human time and culture stamp.
If you make textiles, where is your most inspiring space / place to create?
In my messy studio, sitting and listening to a podcast.
What has inspired you recently?
Easy!!! THIS.....Thread Memory: Embroidery from Palestine curated by Rachel Dedman. I saw it at Kettles Yard in Cambridge and it's now on at V&A Dundee. Go see it. I attended a Tatreez embroidery workshop soon after - I was so inspired.
What is your most cherished textile, and why?
Oooh i'm obsessed with my Anokhi hand block printed rezai blanket. Anokhi are a handblock printing company in Jaipur India. They are a brilliant and sustainable textile brand founded in 1970.
Where did you learn your craft?
I grew up watching my mum make things. We always had a sewing machine at home and she made clothes for Pakistani women. I did hand sewing at school - I remember I was the only boy in my class. I have been hand-sewing from the age of 11.
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Further Information:
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Image Credits:
Lead Image: Liaqat Rasul exhibits his scultures at The National Festival of Making. Photo Credit: Robin Zahler
All other images as credited in photo captions.