Thursday 20th July 2023 Project 78
78 Norman Road
St. Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex TN38 0EJ
For our July event, we once again headed to another local art gallery. This time, at Project 78 in St Leonard's on Sea, where artist member Agata Read gave a talk about the work she is exhibiting there.
Agata talked about the roots of her interest in photo-embroidery and discussed her work methods and practical approaches to combining two different mediums. For the past 3 years, Agata has worked on her practice-based PhD, and the exhibition is very much a celebration of that time, showcasing some of the work created during her studies.
Agata Read at the Project 78 Gallery with BMN members
About Agata's work My practice and research explore the process of intervening in the material structure of a photograph, incorporating the relationship between photography, feminism, and textile craft. I create unique, hand-quilted, and embroidered pieces using photographs and yarn.
Photography and thread each have their own characteristics with which they impregnate photo-embroidery. Thread is tactile and haptic, while photography elevates the visual and emphasises the content. Photography is rooted in technology, while working with thread owes more to traditions of craft, with strong historical connections to women.
Feminism is the clip that holds the thread and the photograph together in my work. Feminism is perceived, apart from philosophical references, as an everyday experience of the social role of a woman, a mother and caregiver. I aim to challenge the artificial divisions within the creative world and demonstrate photography’s potential to be metamorphosed into another medium.
I am inspired by works that disrupt formal and material expectations of the medium when the author is equally focused on the content and the process of interference in the structure.
