For the Love of Textiles - Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley

Grenfell Memorial Quilt - Do Caged Birds Dream of Flying?

 

For the Love of Textiles, currently showing at Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, explores the loving connections humans have with textiles. It includes work by contemporary artists, garments and archival pieces from textile collections.

The largest and most striking single piece is a panel from the Grenfell Memorial Quilt - Do Caged Birds Dream of Flying? Tuesday Greenidge and her team from the North Kensington community created the Grenfell Memorial Quilt Project.  They hope to create a quilt as long as the tower was tall  - 220 feet, by 2027. This particular panel of the Grenfell Memorial Quilt has been led by Jane Thakoordin and draws inspiration from Maya Angelou's Caged Bird poem.  It features a bird for each of the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.  These were made by people from across the UK who responded to Jane's call out...

Grenfell Memorial Quilt - Do Caged Birds Dream of Flying?

Kate Tume's Death Masks were very striking.  We are told they are deities of grief, each representing a facet of love lost and are inspired by the death of her husband.  They are not only sculptures but ritual masks to be worn so the wearer can be transformed...

Kate Tume - Death Masks
Cotton, wire mesh, embellishments
 & Sam Winter & Kate Tume - Threshold: Ghost I, II & III
Photography on aluminium

Sarah Joy Ford had contacted Angela Maddock, textile artist & academic, to repair her childhood rabbits - John and Peter. Their restoration was documented in photographs, replaced stuffing and the water they were cleaned with, whilst Sarah Joy Ford made 2 new pieces celebrating her white rabbits...

Angela Maddock - John and Peter in the Care of Angela Maddock
Sarah Joy Ford - The White Rabbits

We are told that Julie Henry and Debbie Bragg working as Henry/Bragg highlighted the erosion of working class culture and the human longing for escapism.  For Dyed in the Wool, they invited a die hard fan from the football teams featured and got them to design a cardigan to represent their team.  Unlike mass produced merchandise these feature elements of local identity. They were knitted by the WI.  They are now part of the permanent collection of the National Football Museum in Manchester...

Henry/Bragg - Dyed in the Wool
Handknit Cardigans (from front) Leeds United, Middlesborough, Aston Villa

This lace from Nana-Essi Casely-Hayford's wedding fabric was beautiful but I was particularly taken by the poem that was displayed with it (shown below)...

Nana-Essi's Ghanaian Wedding Fabric
Loaned by Nana-Essi Casely-Hayford from her personal collection

Poem from the display of Nana-Essi's Ghanaian Wedding Fabric
Loaned by Nana-Essi Casely-Hayford from her personal collection

These wedding shoes are part of the Joseph Box collection of shoes and objects relating to shoemaking (1500 to 1920), which provides a unique insight into footwear history.  They are handmade and rather lovely...

Joseph Box Victorian Wedding Shoes
Loaned by Sarah Buckroyd from Powerhouse Collection

I was quite taken with this knitted ensemble but didn't spot any information about it...

Knitted Dress

This is just a sample of what is on display.  If you want to see more, the exhibition is on until 28 June 2026 - Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm.  There are cafes at Sunny Bank Mills, various shops and a ScrapStore.  It's a great place to visit.  If you plan to visit the ScrapStore, check opening hours before you go.