2009

I was invited as an artist in residence at the Blackburn Museum to work with the museum collection. Inspired by the Museum’s Lewis Textile Collection and Blackburn’s history, I created a body of works titled ‘Blacheborne Largo’. Blacheborne Largo is a playful reference to Blackburn’s social history, Blacheborne – the old historic name of Blackburn (the town also known as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution in Europe), and Largo – slow tempo within music – mirrors the slow deliberate movements of the textile weaving machines. The work consisted of printed archival images of the weavers, workmen, their families and the environs of the old industrial city onto actual cotton yarn spindles mounted on to the spinning and weaving machines, glue yarns mounted on to weaving machines and textile installations made from hot glue.