British textile biennial 

curator & Technical Producer

Taking over the floor of Blackburn’s Cotton trading floor, the work of four artists and collectives narrate a legacy of environmental and social impact of centuries of textile heritage, particularly focused on its place across the African continent. Artists included:

The Nest Collective from Nairobi who presented their installation and video screening room, ‘Return To Sender’ constructed of used garments, called mitumba in Kenya, fashioned into bales to represent the breadth of the uncontrolled consumption in the Global North, and the stringent regulations that overtly force the movement of these materials to the Global South.

Thierry Oussou from Benin who presented an artwork composed of raw cotton from 3 hectares of land in Benin, farmed by the artist with local workers and agriculture students. 

Victoria Udondini in New York State, who’s artwork was devised in collaboration with community members, weaving disused clothing to create monumental draped textiles whilst collecting their stories on notions of colonisation, migration and cloth.

Common Wealth Theatre from Bradford who, whilst working with community co-creators from East Lancashire, presented Fast, Fast, Slow, an interactive catwalk performance that takes the audience on a journey through our relationship to fashion, from Burnley to Ghana whilst interacting with a site specific catwalk made from clothing bales.