Andia Coral Newton South East London based maker and project coordinator
A Matter of Life
30 March - 3 June, 2024TextielMuseum | TextielLab, Netherlands
“A huge amount was created in the TextielLab over two weeks under the inspiring guidance of Otobong Nkanga, Nina Lolle and all the product developers. From 30 March, A Matter of Life will showcase a selection of that work in the TextielMuseum’s viewing gallery. Project leader Michelle Baggerman asked each of the eight participants to provide several meaningful pieces from their ATP experience for the exhibition: their top three personal works and their top five works created with or by others. These range from sketches and samples to more developed pieces. That’s because most participants continued to work on their projects after leaving the TextielLab. “They took home everything they made here last year and had time to reflect on it. The pieces that are now coming back to us for the exhibition give a great insight into their development process,” says Baggerman.”
This work was made in collaboration with the wonderful programmers and weavers at the Lab who helped me work out how to bring my designs into being as jacquard weavings.
This sample feels like a culmination of all my learning at TextielLab. In it, I see a record of conversations with Otobong about compositional elements in traditions tapestry, discussions about the complexity of colour palettes with Nina of Kvadrat, patient guidance from the programmers regarding bindings, and tonnes of influence from my ATP colleagues- such as playing with floats as a design element.
There’s a lot of reference to traditions such as Damask too, and tonnes of thought about women’s roles in the post-industrial textile industry. Most of these lines of enquirey are to be explored further going forward.
Artists
Amy Lewis, Nicky Vollebregt, Maria E André, Tatjana Haupt, Tomoyo Tsurimi, Ida-Simone Brerup, Dominika Gacka and Andia Coral Newton.