Inside the covers of Tangled

What is actually in this new book?

A week ago I soft-launched my new self-published book, opening up for pre-sales while the book is still in production. On Saturday I was visiting speaker for a conference about textiles and I talked about Mary Linwood. I also mentioned my new book and was asked “what is in it?” I realised then that I need a better answer than “All my work for the last decade that isn’t Criminal Quilts or Mary Linwood.”

Over the last 21 years I have made a lot of textile work, I have collaborated with some incredible artists and I have worked with hundreds of participants in co-creation projects. I am proud of what I’ve done, what I have made and who I have connected with in the process.

From 2015 to 2019 I created four solo exhibitions (and also Criminal Quilts) and the majority of the book is work from those four shows, and other work before and since which fits into the same theme of care and connection that overarches all of my projects.

Rather than create distinct sections of the book about each exhibition, or presenting all my 90 pieces in chronological order, I have written the book in themed sections which reflect my thinking rather than time or exhibition boundaries.

• I’ve written about my exhibitions and how I came to do all those things
• I’ve written about my museum background and how that continues to be a significant part of my work
• I’ve written about my research and creative process and shared my Project Books which are the backbone of how I work

Then I focus on the creative themes that I have been exploring over the last 12 years.

Personal Histories – this includes work relating to my own family and to other families or people

Textile Stories – work inspired directly by the historic textiles that I love

Sense of Place – buildings and landscapes creep into my work too

Emotional Repair – this includes the exhibition of the same name and work around loss, grief and my personal life

Co-creation – making with others in multiple ways

Care – more recent work specifically thinking about creative practice as care which led into my Cultures of Care project – this is mentioned in Tangled but I have written far more about it in Making Meaning Journal.

There’s also a very brief timeline of my career which started out as over 2000 words which I will share in a different form instead!

There are 89 pieces or groups of work in this book, over 150 pages, 18,000 words and six years of writing, revising, changing, removing and tweaking the content to what is almost ready to be seen now. These are some of the pages, beautifully designed by Sophie Holt.

There will be work in here that you recognise, you may have seen on my website or hopefully in person at one of those exhibitions. There may well be your contribution to one of my co-creation projects there too and I really hope what everyone will find is stories that resonate and have meaning. My work is about care and connection and sharing what I do with readers is absolutely fundamental to why I do it. I hope you will be part of this by buying a pre-sale copy and supporting me in getting it out in the world!

And a reminder, I also have my other self-published books and courses on sale this month