We are wired for stories. Stories are how we step into someone else’s life and understand the world around us. Stories are powerful. They communicate someone’s energy, emotion and experience in a way that facts alone cannot.
Some stories go beyond words; they demand something creative to capture the heart behind a moment. That’s where Co-Stitch began.
When a multidisciplinary team of academics and artists came together at Bristol University to explore how sewing connects communities, the result was Co-Stitch.
Now, for the first time, their artwork is on display for all to see as part of the Weaving Narratives Exhibition, with Bristol Photo Festival. You can step into their story at the Royal Fort Gardens where giant photo panels capture the project in all its glory.
When the University’s Brigstow Institute approached Bristol charity Bridges for Communities to partner with the research, project leader Dawn Giles was delighted. Dawn and her co-leader Sima Gul have been gathering women from all over the world, living in Bristol, as part of their ‘Stitching Together’ classes. Over the years they’ve sewn all manner of creations from cushions to capes, dresses to tapestries. Some have been displayed in art galleries, others sold by London designers, and plenty more adorn the homes of the women themselves.
Academics and Artists Unite
The Co-Stitch Project focused on two groups of women, in Fishponds and Yate, creating intricate hand-sewn embroideries. One group, mostly of South Asian heritage, was led by Psychologist Dr Nilu Ahmed, supported by the Brigstow Institute’s researcher Kate Bowen-Viner and captured on camera by artist Dr Nilupa Yasmin, at the vibrant Vassal Centre. Meanwhile, in Yate, artist Jessa Fairbrother joined researcher Kate Bowen-Viner in a Stitching Together group with women from Ukraine and Hong Kong.
Every week the classes come alive as women share stories as they stitch and sew, practising their English and exchanging skills. The result is something altogether new – artwork forged from friendships across cultures, combining styles and stitches from different communities around the globe. As Jessa Fairbrother explained:
“I’ve always believed there are invisible threads that stretch across the space between – like a cat’s cradle passing between children’s hands in a playground. And those threads are always there. Because we are all connected.”
Poppies and Double Happiness
Alongside the photos, Fairbrother produced a short film entitled ‘Poppies and Double Happiness’.
“Double Happiness is the highly recognisable Chinese character, here being stitched by May [pictured below]. She gave me a pot which has this symbol on the top, and wished me ‘Double Happiness’ for my life. We talked about possessions, what it means to give them away, and how it affects your mind. Mostly the conversations are overlaid with one another, to replicate the feeling of being in a group and the gentle togetherness of women talking.”
With the headlines dominated by stories of conflict, this whole project is a beautiful testament to a different narrative – people from all walks of life coming together to listen and learn from one another, to share ideas and stories, and above all, to create. While conflicts destroy communities, creativity can be a catalyst for the opposite – uniting people across cultures, building something new and different. Stitching in particular provides a platform for narratives that go beyond words. There is meaning in those materials, energy in those embroideries and stories in those stitches.
Why not go and see it for yourself?
You can visit the exhibition until the 9th December at Royal Fort Gardens, Tyndall Avenue. The work is on show at the back of the physics building. Visit www.costitch.blogs.bristol.ac.uk to find out more.