This series of portraits builds on Alice Kettle’s Thread Bearing Witness project shown at The Whitworth, Manchester in 2018. Working with communities and individuals Alice continues to collaborate with expert stitchers from around the world. Individuals from Syria, Iran, Pakistan and Uganda contribute to the hand stitching found on these drawn portraits by Alice. She wishes to acknowledge the importance of their input. A more detailed list crediting these contributions is available.
This new series of portraits can be seen in the context of an opening out of Alice’s practice to engage more emphatically through stitch with others, as a means of representing the collective and individual selves. This reflects the ability of stitch to intersect across divided spaces and connect with others through a common language of making.
The works focus on memory and experience, whilst examining the notions of identity, authorship and of stitch as a medium of integration across borders and technologies.
