Google Website Translator Gadget

Total Pageviews

Textiles

 
Adam
5ftx3ft4in
(click on image for enlargement) 
 

Adam is a tapestry made from: oil paint, flyers, beer mats, clothing, lubricant rappers, drink labels, club adverts and various fabrics.

The model was chosen to reflect how some men have used Canal Street to 'Cruz'.  The identity of the man is hidden in shadow, his face is anonymous as he leans against a wall looking out at the viewer, waiting. The character’s facial features are distorted, he could appear as a sexual predator or someone’s prey. On the left hand side of the image there are red ribbons ironically referring to the risks and dangers of 'cruzing'.  On the right side of the image the man leans on a wall covered in graffiti.  These slogans were taken from findings in public toilets, descriptions written or scratched onto the inside of cubicles.  Some of these toilets will have been a place for men to privately explore their sexuality.
The flesh is painted in oil paint, which will eventually break down the material; as though the body is slowly deteriorating.  The figure appears hollow and translucent while emitting a yearning quality. The
The tapestry suggests a superficial and hedonistic lifestyle.  Showing a relationship between excitement, sex and danger.   

 
Bound 2 U 
5ft2inx4ft2in
(click on image for enlargement) 

This piece is hand woven out of denim, belts, condoms, bondage tape, feathers, chains, flyers, glitter, and other found objects, which I collected down Canal Street, the gay village in Manchester.

The piece is deliberately chaotic like a rush of emotions.  Entwined are tokens I have collected on Canal Street.
The image is supposed to be overwhelming and dominating when the viewer is stood in front of it.  This allows the viewer to get lost and absorbed by the built up layers, bound together.  Some strands are tightly knotted together, aggressively pulled, twisted and contorted whilst others are interlaced loosely.
  I want people to allow themselves to be drawn into these feelings and form their own relationship with the work.  I aim to join a relationship between the physical and emotional nuances.

 

Blue Angels
Each piece is 3Ft 8 inches created using mixed media and found objects
(click on image for enlargement) 

There phallic spears stand in the shape of an equilateral triangle. The three phallic spears have various different found objects wrapped and bound into their surface. The audience are encourage to walk around the three totems to explore the work and discover the collection of objects which have been found and taken from Canal Street in Manchester UK.
The piece aims to highlight some of the abandoned remains of the street as a historic shrine. I hope to encourage a dialogue, looking at the community Canal Street serves and the interaction of those who walk through the streets themselves. There is a tension in the values and pride people have for this microcosm and interested in how others perceive the lifestyle.
   
The Emperor’s Achilles’ heel
4ftx 4ft 6 inches
towelling, thread, spray-paint, bitumen, acrylic, checked material.
(click image for an enlargement) 
The reclining figure is a representation of The Dying Achilles- a marble statute by the German sculptor Ernest Herder, commissioned by Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1884. It reflected her fascination for Greek culture. She wrote:
‘He represents the Greek spirit, the beauty of the land…’ and is ‘… as strong as proud and obstinate as a Greek mountain.’ Homer’s lliad describes Achilles as the warrior who both fought with and loved Patroclus, his best friend and comrade.
I discovered the statue at the Archilleio summer palace in Gastouri, Corfu, which was acquired by the German Emperor Wilhelm II upon the death of Elizabeth in 1908. The dying Achilles lies semi-recumbent, his heel pierced by an arrow that will eventually kill him. His expression is ambiguous; he appeared pained or could be interpreted as in state of climax and release. The sculpture could be expressing his soul passing; however the figure as a whole appears sexualised.
I noted that the date if acquisition coincided with the end of the notorious homosexual trials involving high-ranking army officers, politicians and at the centre it all- the Kaiser himself. It seemed fascinating that the acquisition of the palace coincided with the end of these trials and it raised the question of why.
It may have been an idyllic, hidden, cliff-top retreat with beautiful gardens by the sea however it seems a strange choice given the circumstances of the trials themselves which implicated Wilhelm and placed him directly with the accused. The worst interpretation was put upon his male-only hunting parties and long weekends. The stress of the scandal in 1908, caused many of those involved to fall ill, so on the one hand it can be seen as purely an escape but upon seeing it in reality, it is transparently a utopian gay retreat which would have been hidden away from the prying eyes of both journalists and general German public yet still accessible to the cognoscenti. In hindsight this aspect of Kaiser’s lifestyle is one that, although it had huge ramifications for consequent political events, is one that is hardly known and rarely discussed, even now.
Bringing the hidden history back to the surface, exposing events which have been whitewashed by the concerted efforts of partisan historians, and tourist boards who have chosen to ignore the clues that are so gloriously apparent at Palace of Achilleio. It is the overt dissonance between the public war-mongering, philistine and the private lover of Greek art and beauty that strikes one forcibly at the palace. The dichotomy between the pure, soft, white towelling against the thick viscosity of the bitumen with its connotations of staining darkness and sticky sordidness is emphasized by the use of binding that is a visual metaphor of social and sexual constraints imposed by state and society.
The viewer is left wondering about the subtle semiotics of which unveil the truth behind the public figure-what these conveyed during his lifetime and the contrast with what we perceive from them today. 


Commission with Lesbian Immigration Support Group
2m x 1m
Various Textiles
(click image for an enlargement) 

I was very lucky to be invited to work with the Lesbian Immigration Support Group who are the most fantastic charity. They are a group of women in Greater Manchester providing a social network offering emotional support to lesbians and bisexual women currently applying for asylum and those refugees who have been granted leave to stay in the UK. They offer practical support and assistance to members with current asylum applications based on sexuality and to ensure that our members are treated equally and with dignity during the often inhuman asylum process.
They wanted to raise there visibility at Pride events and asked for help to create a new two sided banner. Through consultation with the group they designed and created a banner which reflects their aims and ideals.
On one side is two hearts with statements 'Free to be Me' and 'Love Has its Own Way'
On the other is the logo of Lesbian Immigration Support Group embedded in a tree. On each branch is the values they hold: Freedom, Stability, Autonomy, Empowerment, Security, Support. They decided they wanted a tree to represent they're feelings of finding a home, finding strength in themselves and their group and building roots with a new life. The surrounding butterflies represent their freedom and vitality.


Same-Sex Marriage Quilt
 4m x 3.5m
The project was made possible through successfully competing against 12 finalists for one of three mirco-residencies with People's History Museum in 2014. I worked with different groups to get the public to decorate hand drawn portraits of the 396 MPs that voted in support of the same sex marriage bill. The portraits have been collected together to form a political map of the UK and all the MPs constituencies. There were also 254 MPs that did not vote for the bill, for those gaps in the map people contributed messages of hope towards a more equal and accepting future. This part of the project was completed at People’s History Museum.

The project continued to be supported through Homotopia's artist development scheme Queercore. During Homtopia’s 2014 Festival Unity theatre and Museum of Liverpool hosted sessions for the public to decorate the hand drawn images. The project engaged with community groups until all 396 contributions were decorated by participants.

This is a short video showing the quilt in development with Museum of Liverpool and Homtopia



I was there for three days collecting contributions from visitors!

 
Big Up Female Boffin's by Warp and Weft
 A.T. Boyle – curator of the overall Colours, Community and Chemistry exhibition 
1m x 1m

I helped construct the banner Big Up Female Boffin's Banner which was a project designed and created by Warp and Weft. I can't take any credited for the project I just helped by constructing the banner. Their work is amazing though and if you like craftivism you should definitely follow this link and find out more about the project:

https://wearewarpandweft.wordpress.com/2014/11/16/check-out-boffins-banner-craftivist-contributions/

Liverpool Pride 
2m x 1m
I was one of four commissioned works for Liverpool Pride. I had the absolute pleasure of working with the Alternative Fashion Festival (Alt Fest). They are a body positive festival; they showcase the unique, the unusual, the beautiful; highlighting wonderfully diverse subcultures across Liverpool and Merseyside to ultimately create social change around prejudice & hate crimes you can learn more about them here. I was hired to consult with the group to help them create and execute their own design. 
 The day was so much fun I think they all loved the banned. This is there promotional video they even created so you can see them during Liverpool Pride waving the banner itself: 


They were a really creative bunch and had heaps of great ideas which got distilled into a finale design. I have a video which goes through what we did which you can see below:


#Bookdraw
Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
30cm x 30cm
This is the first piece I have created into a textile work from an ongoing series called #Bookdraw. This is an online video project which encourages people to read more queer fiction. I create video reviews of the novels and create images in relation to the stories. I turned this particular image into a textile work which when into a group show called Provocations by In Collaboration With in Blackpool. You can watch the video about the exhibition here:


Traveller
Saltaire Mill in Yorkshire Art Trail
116 cm x 80cm
The central figure is walking alone in an abstract landscape. The figure’s form is incomplete disjointed and in part translucent. The figure is protected within an atmospheric diving suit walking across an open plane above sea level. The person is encased in the suit and detached from their surroundings; unable to connect. The person is not submerged, but they cannot breathe freely. The piece uses visual prompts for the viewer to interpret the work on their own terms. Is the traveller a Nomad or explorer? Are they aimless or pursuing a direction of their choice?