Detail from Sally Smart’s Performance/Punokawan/Chout (The Choreography of Cutting), 2017.
From Victor & Rolf's "Get Mean" frock through Jordan Gogos's radical upcycling projects to Paul McCann's "Sovereignty Never Ceded" gown, certain items of clothing speak loudly - with intention - about the times we find ourselves in. Let's not forget the long traditions of tapestry-making, quilting, embroidery, and the newer but related concepts of stitch-n-bitch craftivism. Cloth can be a radical medium. You might call it soft power, for its undeniable tactility - but don't mistake soft for weak.
"Textiles galvanise communities. Through wars, pandemics and disasters, textiles have offered a way to mobilise social and cultural groups and build connections. In the late nineteenth century, British artist and designer William Morris sought to counter the mechanisation and mass-production of the Industrial Revolution by weaving tapestries on a manual loom with hand-dyed thread. Today, many artists are experimenting with the materials and techniques of textile design as a ‘slow making’ antidote to the high-speed digital age."
With an introduction like that, how could we not respond?
This week, Clare sits down with Rebecca Evans and Leigh Robb, curators of RADICAL TEXTILES - a major new exhibition at the Art Gallery of South Australia.
Up for discussion: do textiles belong in museums? Is fashion so often dismissed as some sort of lesser art because it's considered unserious women's business? How did political movements of the last century use textiles to get their messages across? What's with Don Dunstan's pink shorts? And so much more!
“Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.”
NOTES & LINKS
RADICAL TEXTILES is on at the Art Gallery of South Australia, until March 20, 2025. To visit the exhibition www.agsa.sa.gov.au
LEIGH ROBB joined the Art Gallery of South Australia as the inaugural Curator of Contemporary Art in 2016. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Psychology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, and her Masters in Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
REBECCA EVANS is a Curator of Decorative Arts at AGSA. Previously an Assistant Curator at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, she brings a passion for fashion and textiles.
888 The 8 Hours Movement which was initiated in Victoria, Australia in 1856. The Eight Hours League campaigned for an eight hour day on the basis of eight hours work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for recreation and education. On 26th February 1856, James Galloway convinced a meeting of employers and employees to begin implementing the 8 hour day. A public holiday was declared and floats were prepared to represent the various trades, and was celebrated until the last procession in 1951. More here
DON DUNSTAN was premier of South Australia from 1967 to 1968, and again from 1970 to 1979. “One of Australia’s most charismatic, courageous and visionary politicians; a dedicated reformer with a deep commitment to social justice, a true friend to the Aboriginal people and those newly arrived in Australia, and with a lifelong passion for the arts and education. He took positive steps to enhance the status of women.
Most of his reforms have withstood the test of time and many have been strengthened with time. Many of his reforms in sex discrimination, Aboriginal land rights and consumer protection were the first of their kind in Australia. via Don Dunstan Foundation.
“The year was 1972. The shorts were short, pink and worn on the steps of Parliament House by South Australian premier Don Dunstan. …The symbolism of the shorts is today more relevant than ever, especially given Australia’s current civil rights debate about marriage equality. During his tenure, Dunstan’s sexuality was rumoured to be ambiguous, although he was married with kids. Out of office, Dunstan spent the last decade of his life in a gay relationship with Cheng, who acknowledges, "They are an important part of the history of South Australia, where there were a lot of changes and people were allowed to have more freedom." His relationship with Cheng, which began in 1988, gives personal context to his much earlier act of decriminalising homosexuality –but it doesn’t overshadow it.” via SBS
NELL is is an Australian artist working across performance, installation, video, painting and sculpture. She began work on the NELL ANNE QUILT for Radical Textiles in 2020, with Carolynne Gordon, after reading a news article in 2016 that stated only 17 % of biographies on Wikipedia were for women.
A community call-out for women to stitch and send in patches featuring the name of a woman they admire, resulted in more than 440 embroidered patches arriving from all over the world. These form to a patchworked community quilt. More here.
Photo: Saul Steed via https://www.indailysa.com.au
WILLIAM MORRIS & ADELAIDE Co-founded by William Morris, one of the most prolific and well-known designers of the nineteenth century, Morris & Co. is a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer famous for its focus on handmade craftsmanship. The largest Morris & Co collection outside of Britain is in Adelaide. many works linked to Adelaide’s prominent Barr-Smith family, who were major clients.
In 1883, Robert and Joanna Barr Smith visited London, and Morris & Co, having just bought Auchendarroch, an old coaching inn at Mount Barker that they had young architect John Grainger (father of Percy) convert into a 30-room summer mansion. This was in addition to their gothic Torrens Park mansion.
The Barr Smiths, already prolific shoppers, chose “staggering” amounts of carpets, curtain fabrics, wallpaper, chintzes, furniture and glassware for their two Adelaide houses and started a four decades relationship with Morris & Co.. Embroidery kits were also bought by Joanna for her daughters, encouraging a love of needlework. Read the rest here.
JORDAN GOGOS (below) is a Sydney-based artist/designer who defies convention. Jordan’s practice thrives on spontaneity and the fortuitous interplay of materials that revolve around repurposed, recycled, and dead stock textiles sourced from friends and colleagues, employing couturier techniques such as layering, compressing, felting, and embroidering. Discover his work here.
Lil and Katie Nichol-Ford (below) of NICOL & FORD are fast making a name for themselves. They say: “Focused on re-writing history with silhouette, textile and texture, the work of Nicol & Ford celebrates the designer’s communities through contemporary fashion. Annual collections begin with extensive research to contest contemporary understandings of the past, to reverse queer erasure and propose a more inclusive celebration of creative ingenuity and leadership. Ethical production is at the core of the brand, with each garment made to order in locally sourced materials from the Newtown-based atelier.” See their work here.
Here’s ART SIMONE! She’s wearing a 2019 custom look by Pashion Couture. More here.
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