My PhD at UCA with Professor Lesley Millar and Simon Olding explored how collaborative stitch has undisclosed benefits and also tensions. It builds on my long standing experience as an academic, artist and socially engaged practitioner.
The thesis involved three case studies focused on the signature cloth – a textile made up of hand sewn autographs which are utilised to locate activities and processes within a defined and accessible form within each case study.
The research reveals and elucidates the dynamics inherent in stitch-based community collaborations through the process, documentation and critical analysis of three projects led by the researcher. Based at Robin Hood’s Bay Museum in rural North Yorkshire, the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive and Burnage Academy of Boys in Manchester and the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, each project engages overlooked communities and diverse partner organisations. The range signposts the breadth of this enquiry, illuminating the scope and cross disciplinary potential of this method.
The thesis can be found on the British Library’s ethos system.
Left to right
Robin Hood’s Bay signature cloth (1936) Sew Near – Sew Far (2017) with eh Bronte Parsonage Museum and Threads of Identity (2016) with Burnage Academy for Boys.
Published: 8th June 2023
Themes: collaborative, crafts, embroidery engagement, handmade, identity, signature,
