British Textile Biennial
For British Textile Biennial 2021 artist Brigid McLeer creates a memorial to the hundreds of workers who die in factories and sweatshops across the world that supply the global garment industry. Made in collaboration with local embroiderers and inspired by a large-scale lace panel from the Gawthorpe Textile Collection commemorating the Battle of Britain, the work will be a moving testament to the lives lost to feed the West’s seemingly bottomless appetite for fast fashion.
For British Textile Biennial 2021 artist Brigid McLeer creates a memorial to the hundreds of workers who die in factories and sweatshops across the world that supply the global garment industry. Made in collaboration with local embroiderers and inspired by a large-scale lace panel from the Gawthorpe Textile Collection commemorating the Battle of Britain, the work will be a moving testament to the lives lost to feed the West’s seemingly bottomless appetite for fast fashion.
British Textile Biennial returns this year with new artist commissions, exhibitions and performances presented against the backdrop of the impressive infrastructure of the cotton industry in Pennine Lancashire.
If so, we want you to join us in a ground-breaking sustainable fashion project, happening right here in Blackburn, where we become the first town in modern times to grow its own clothes!
In 2021, British Textile Biennial turns its attention to the global nature of textiles and the relationships they create, both historically and now. As part of this year’s biennial we are inviting people across the country and hopefully the globe to share their own story of migration and belonging in a crowdsourced collection of stitched hoops curated by Jamie “Mr X Stitch” Chalmers.
Using a 6” hoop, stitchers are encouraged to share the stories of how they ended up where they are now. Whether this journey be across continents or down the street, in a literal depiction or an abstract impression, we invite you to share in stitch what your place and community means to you now.
Call for participants from British South Asian women aged between 18-30 to take part in a project with Lancashire based artist Azraa Motala.
Artist Azraa Motala is creating a new series of portraits exploring themes of identity, belonging, culture and heritage co-commissioned by British Textile Biennial 2021 and The Harris in Preston. Unapologetic will challenge the ongoing narrative of “otherness” and provide a platform for an overlooked community of young British South Asian women from Lancashire – too often invisible and unheard – to express how they want to be represented.
A New Archive Created To Capture The Memories of Rave Parties Scene In Blackburn, Lancashire
We are very excited to announce that as part of the first British Textile Biennial this October we’ll we’ll be presenting the adidas SPEZIAL exhibition in the Blackburn Cotton Exchange,