From the Barberini Tapestries to the Bayeux Tapestry, monumental textiles in the form of large-scale narrative embroideries, weaving and tapestries have been used to illustrate contemporary events to become enduring material chronicles. Thread Bearing Witness is a major new series of large textiles, and other works, to be shown at the Whitworth, that considers cultural heritage, refugee displacement and movement, while engaging with individual migrants and their creativity within the wider context of the global refugee crisis.

Alice Kettle is a highly regarded contemporary artist focused upon stitched textiles, a powerful medium through which to explore these themes. Thread Bearing Witness represents displacement though the migration of stitches, using the three strands of artistic representation, participation and creative resilience, testing ways of belonging within a cultural space, and using textile as a medium of integration, collective expression and resilience to displacement.

As part of Thread Bearing Witness, textile artist Alice Kettle is working with researcher Tamsin Koumis. This multi-stranded project involves many groups, individuals and activities from across the UK.

To find out more information click here:  threadbearingwitness.com

Alice Kettle will give a free guided tour of the exhibition at 2 pm on Saturday 20 October.

Top Image: Alice Kettle, Sea (detail), 2017.