Laetitzia Campbell - On Your Way Home, What Did You Find? - David Parr House, Cambridge

Laetitzia Campbell - Yesterday's Light, 2025
Screen print, machine-embroidery, hand-embroidery on linen
Cotton & polyester thread

 

Laetitzia Campbell's On Your Way Home, What Did You Find? is currently showing  at the David Parr House in Gwydir Street, Cambridge until 23 May 2026.  Laetitzia Campbell is a British-French textile artist with Jamaican heritage.  We are told that the works in this exhibition draw on Campbell's father's childhood journey home from school in Jamaica, evoking memories that shape our sense of home.

Laetitzia Campbell - Memories of Calmer Times, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

Her works are shown alongside the Richard Hopkins Leach travel journal, which also records a journey...

A Journal with Delineations of Nature Principally of Cornwall; Journal of the Tour, 1814
Richard Hopkins-Leach - Illustrated & Handwritten Journal

My favourite of the Campbell's pieces is Yesterday's Light (top image) which is mostly hand stitched and is a sizeable piece.

Laetitzia Campbell - Sombre Metamorphosis iii, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

The pieces that are machine stitched use a zigzag stitch which is unusual in machine stitched textile art as a free-machined straight stitch is more common.

Laetitzia Campbell - Bright Night Sun, 2025
Machine and hand-embroidery on cotton
Cotton & polyester thread

The David Parr House is a typical Cambridge terraced house with an amazing hand-painted interior. It was home to the Victorian working-class artist David Parr and his family for over 125 years. As a rare survival of Arts and Crafts workmanship in a modest domestic setting,  it is well worth a visit. The David Parr House is a short walk from Cambridge main station (15 minutes) and is just off Mill Road on Gwydir Street.  Sustenance is available at the very pleasant Hot Numbers cafe on Gwydir Street or any number of places on Mill Road including Mill Mediterranean Coffee Spot.

Mill Mediterranean Coffee Spot

You can visit the exhibition and the shop anytime from Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm but if you want to visit the house, which is very interesting, you have to book a timed ticket (Thursday to Saturday).