Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art
Using textiles, fibre and thread, 50 international artists challenge power structures and reimagine the world in this major group exhibition.
Image: T. Vinoja, Bunker & border, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Experimenter. Image above: Sheila Hicks, Family Treasures, 1993 © Sheila Hicks, ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2023, courtesy Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Textiles cover and protect us, engage our senses, trigger our memories, represent our beliefs, hold our stories. We are wrapped in cloth when we’re born and enshrouded in it when we die.
Image: Tracey Emin, No chance (WHAT A YEAR), 1999. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2022. Image courtesy White Cube. Photo: Stephen White & Co.
As an artistic medium, textiles can speak to the joys and pains of being human, as well as the larger structures and systems that shape our world.
In this major group exhibition, 50 international, intergenerational artists use textiles to communicate vital ideas about power, resistance and survival. From intimate hand-crafted pieces to monumental sculptural installations, these works offer narratives of violence, imperialism and exclusion alongside stories of resilience, love and hope.
Image: Hannah Ryggen, Blut im Gras (Blood in the Grass), 1966, woven rug in wool and linen, 2.4 x 2.9 m. Courtesy: KODE Art Museums and Composers Homes, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019; photograph Dag Fosse / KODE.
Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art is on show at the Art Gallery, Barbican from —
Image: T. Vinoja, Bunker & border, 2021. Courtesy the artist and Experimenter. Image above: Sheila Hicks, Family Treasures, 1993 © Sheila Hicks, ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2023, courtesy Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam.
Textiles cover and protect us, engage our senses, trigger our memories, represent our beliefs, hold our stories. We are wrapped in cloth when we’re born and enshrouded in it when we die.
Image: Tracey Emin, No chance (WHAT A YEAR), 1999. © Tracey Emin. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2022. Image courtesy White Cube. Photo: Stephen White & Co.
As an artistic medium, textiles can speak to the joys and pains of being human, as well as the larger structures and systems that shape our world.
In this major group exhibition, 50 international, intergenerational artists use textiles to communicate vital ideas about power, resistance and survival. From intimate hand-crafted pieces to monumental sculptural installations, these works offer narratives of violence, imperialism and exclusion alongside stories of resilience, love and hope.
Image: Hannah Ryggen, Blut im Gras (Blood in the Grass), 1966, woven rug in wool and linen, 2.4 x 2.9 m. Courtesy: KODE Art Museums and Composers Homes, VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019; photograph Dag Fosse / KODE.
Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art is on show at the Art Gallery, Barbican from —