Artwork: GROUND (one of three works, Ground, Sea and Sky), Thread Bearing Witness project, 2018. Detail, 3m x 8m. Stitch and life jacket material on printed canvas.
Alice Kettle with contributions from Pipka/Lesvos Solidarity, Ahmad Ali, Somaya Hossaini, Yakob & many other residents at Calais refugee camp working with Suzanne Partridge; Nahomie Bukasa, Sahira Khan and Ai Ling with Linda Leroy at the Helen Bamber Foundation; Nisrin Albyrouty, Khouloud Alkurd, Heba Almnini, Heidi Ambruster, Marwa Ammar, Amal Ayoubi, Stella Charman, Susan Colverson, Jenny Cuffe, Lama Hamami, Miriam Jones, Asmaa Kamar Aldin, Ruth le Mesurier, Vanessa Rolf, Samar Sobeih, Chaymae Yousfi & many children from English Chat Winchester; Farhia Ahmed Ali, Nawad Hersi Duale, Amran Mohamud Ismail with Refugee Action working with artists Jenny Eden and Richard Harris; Julie Firman, Victoria Hartley, Louise Jung, Susan Kamara, Saamiullah Khan (Photo: Michael Pollard).‘Stitch has its own rhythm and cadence of storytelling, which reaches across borders.’
— Alice Kettle
Alice Kettle
Alice Kettle is a textile/fibre artist, writer and lecturer based in the UK. Her vast textile panels narrate contemporary events through rich and intricate stitchwork. Her works often use embroidery to engage in participatory collaborative projects such as her show Thread Bearing Witness at the Whitworth, Manchester 2018-19 where stitch was used to examine refugee issues and migration. Through this project she came to know Anna, a refugee from Syria. They have continued to work together on various textile projects. Alice Kettle is Professor of Textile Arts at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University.
EXHIBITION ARTWORK
“This is the tale of how friends can help each other.”
Anna and Alice have stitched a panel using the phrase in the fable Kalila and Dimna, “This is the tale of how friends can help each other.” Our cross-generational friendship has become enduring through stitch, mixing our cultural heritages of textiles. Divided into four sections the piece draws upon arabesque geometry, the patterns of Syrian textiles such Damascus and Aghabani fabrics with flowers, leaves, fruit, anthropomorphised animals and birds. It interweaves these images with contemporary English embroidery to narrate the fable and our friendship.
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Work in progress, 170 x 120 cm, Thread on cotton In progress, (Photo: Alice Kettle).
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Work in progress, Detail (Photo Alice Kettle).
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Work in progress, Detail (Photo Alice Kettle).
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Work in progress, Detail (Photo Alice Kettle).