Carrying Movement

Carrying Movement are small works rooted in my heritage. My grandmother, an Irish Traveller settled in Liverpool, worked from home as a tailoress. She carried beading-embroidery skills from beady pocket tradition. A pouch worn against the body, decorated with chain stitch, buttons, medals, crosses, exchanged between women as a record of movement and connection. Portable, bodily, made in motion. When she settled, excluded from domestic service and the factory system, her knowledge and skills became the sweated homeworking economy - piece rates, poor light, long hours, damaging her body. As her skills advance, materials enriched; gold thread, beads, pearls, as used in royal, military and ecclesiastical vestments, yet her creativity was never acknowledged. These test piece are beginning to explores what women like my grandmother lost: movement, presence, the right to take up creative space and live well.