This is a record of the responses to my knitted and stitched soft sculptures, The Others, Nobody 1 and All the babies I might have had II at The Knitting and Stitching Shows in London in October, and Harrogate, November, 2015.
I was, frankly, rather nervous about exhibiting in this context as I imagined that most visitors would want to see beautiful, colourful, benign textile art.
My abstract, hanging soft sculptures are far from that; they explore the possibilities of there being a dark side to the idea of embroidery as a gendered, decorative, safe, clean, perfect and private pursuit.
Made using skin-like materials and rough, gestural stitches, my work is troubling and emotive, with an undercurrent of dark humour.
I call it the dark side of stitch.
It soon became clear that asking for permission to write down what someone has said changes the status of their comments and, sometimes, seems to gives them freedom to find their voice.
www.loubakerartist.co.uk
