THE COTTON QUEST: IT FITTED LIKE A GLOVE
Emily Tonge is an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sculpture, textiles and performance, from the Northwest of England, currently based in London.
Female stories of performativity, power, and dress are central to my practice, through which I investigate structures and materials that exist in proximity to the body. I am fascinated by the in-between spaces and blurred lines created by these structures and the female body. This approach is underpinned by in-depth research into my own heritage and existing archives, to unpick how the past frames the present, bringing to the surface neglected stories of gender and class.
Context:
The manufacture of cotton yarn and fabrics transformed rural East Lancashire, and my hometown of Bolton into:
an engine of fast fashion at the epicentre of a web that stretched across the globe; commandeering human and environmental resources across continents in a vicious cycle of labour, manufacture and trade that persists today and which we now know is unsustainable (British Textile Biennial 2022).
Female stories of performativity, power, and dress are central to my practice, through which I investigate structures and materials that exist in proximity to the body. I am fascinated by the in-between spaces and blurred lines created by these structures and the female body. This approach is underpinned by in-depth research into my own heritage and existing archives, to unpick how the past frames the present, bringing to the surface neglected stories of gender and class.
Context:
The manufacture of cotton yarn and fabrics transformed rural East Lancashire, and my hometown of Bolton into:
an engine of fast fashion at the epicentre of a web that stretched across the globe; commandeering human and environmental resources across continents in a vicious cycle of labour, manufacture and trade that persists today and which we now know is unsustainable (British Textile Biennial 2022).
Want to read more of this article?
We are proud to be a subscriber-funded publication with members in 185 countries. We know our readership is passionate about textiles, so we invite you to help us preserve and promote the stories, memories, and histories that fabric holds. Your support allows us to publish our magazine, and also ‘what's on’ information, and subscription interviews, reviews, and long-read articles in our online blog.
ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? CLICK HERE TO ACCESS CONTENT
