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Crafts CouncilWhat's on

We Gather

12 January – 12 March


Crafts Council Gallery, London

Free

This exhibition has now ended.


We Mek Magazine by Lorna Hamilton-Brown, photo by Chris Hamilton-Brown | passion4.co.uk

We Gather featured five female artists of Black and Asian heritage. Whilst their chosen materials and disciplines varied, their works shared a commitment to craft, its cultural value and social justice.

The featured makers were Shaheen Ahmed, Lorna Hamilton-Brown, Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings, Francisca Onumah and Onome Otite. Each artist in the exhibition presented new and existing work.

The exhibition's title 'We Gather' referred to the gathering of ideas, skills and emotions embedded within these five craft practices. It was also a symbol of gratitude towards the communities who gathered their courage, bodies, and voices in support of justice for Black lives, which instigated deeper conversations between the UK’s Black makers and the Crafts Council.


We Gather at the Crafts Council Gallery. Photo: Ben Deakin

Featured Artists

Shaheen Ahmed
Birmingham-based artist Shaheen Ahmed uses maps to reflect narratives of statelessness and disparagement. Her work is layered with a multitude of craft processes and motifs including calligraphy and Islamic geometry. The artist wore a blindfold while making the maps as a way to connect with the experiences of those afflicted by suffering against their will.

Lorna Hamilton-Brown
East Sussex-based artist Lorna Hamilton-Brown, known for her subversive textile works that challenge preconceptions of knitting and crochet, created a knitted magazine cover - ‘We Mek’- full of symbolism with a central figure inspired by political activist Angela Davis and with her watch set to 9.25, the time that George Floyd lost his life to police brutality.

An artwork commissioned as part of the Yarnadelic Remixes 0.1 project titled 'Woman Blue - Elevate' was also on display. The artwork is Lorna’s response to a music-box punch card and research conducted by KNITSONIK and Labistrake into the song Woman Blue (also known as ‘I Know You Rider’). A video discussion about the song choice and its symbolism was also exhibited and is now available to watch on YouTube.

Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings
British-Sudanese textile artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings presented a new light installation. Incorporating dying, screen-printing and Devoré techniques, the work explored themes of identity, communication, heritage, and womanhood. The artist is influenced by her Sudanese heritage which is reflected in her use of Arabic geometry, colour, and form.

Francisca Onumah
Ghanaian-born silversmith Francisca Onumah created three emotive and figurative vessels to reflect family, relationships and historical images of Ghanaian people in everyday life. The grouping of these anthropomorphic vessels depicted the importance of community and support. Their abstracted patterns were deconstructed from traditional Ghanaian motifs, fabrics, and crafted objects. Onumah’s newly commissioned work 'In our skin' (2021) took the form of vessels, elegantly reflecting subtle qualities between relationships, strength and support. Marks and textures were repeatedly hammered into sheet metal to mirror and resemble the patterns found in textiles and fabrics - the artist described this process as “therapeutic”.

Onome Otite
London-based artist Onome Otite created a new textile work inspired by the support network between women. The group of figures in her piece were based on close friends who have inspired the artist. She has also intentionally chosen five figures to mirror the relevance of the five women taking part in the We Gather exhibition. Onome hand-stitched loose folded fabrics across her hand-drawn figures, which were donated by each of her subjects.

A unique opportunity in a mainstream cultural organisation that we haven’t traditionally seen ourselves reflected in


Rosie Ross & Griffi, curators of We Gather


  • Shaheen Ahmed at work

  • Onome Otite in the studio

  • In Our Skin, three vessels by Ghanaian silversmith Francisca Onumah

  • Threads, a light installation by British-Sudanese textile artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings

We Gather was curated as a site for learning and reflection, with books, reports, images, and activities encouraging visitors to engage in discussion around visibility, cultural traditions, and the value of craft within everyday contexts. At the centre of the exhibition, visitors could find a gathering space, where material from the commissioning artists was displayed alongside work by other pioneering female makers whose work celebrates craft within everyday contexts, including objects by Jasleen Kaur and Magdalene Odundo DBE from the Crafts Council Collection.

The We Gather exhibition came out of Craft Expertise, the AHRC-funded UKRI/RCUK Innovation Fellowship led by Dr Karen Patel of Birmingham City University, in collaboration with Crafts Council. In particular, the first report Making Changes in Craft. Dr Patel's research aimed to raise awareness of inequalities in the contemporary craft economy in the UK and highlight the various challenges faced by women of colour in the sector.

The exhibition also featured a selection of portraits of female artisans from The Black Artisans, a photographic project by Jo Sealy that celebrated Black artisans in traditional sectors of UK heritage crafts and gave visibility to making practices derived from African and Caribbean cultural heritage, including steel pan making and calabash art.

“This exhibition has offered us a unique opportunity to curate in honour of women who share similar experiences and frames of reference to our own, but also within a mainstream cultural organisation that we haven’t traditionally seen ourselves reflected in. We are excited to bring together their collection of works, which offer audiences fresh visibility to crafts that has emotional depth, space and social resonance.” Curators of We Gather, Rosie Ross & Griffi.


Foreground: Woman Blue Elevate by Lorna Hamilton-Brown

Further reading

We have compiled a reading list for We Gather, with the hope to extend conversations and collective learning beyond the walls of the Crafts Council gallery.

All books in this list were on display in the gallery's study area as part of the exhibition. Most were leant to us by curators Rosie and Griffi and a number of the books were beloved items of the featured artists’, borrowed from their studios and homes.

Crafts Council at 50

We Gather was produced as part of Make! Craft! Live! A year-long programme of events to mark the Crafts Council's 50th anniversary and celebrate the value of craft to empower, enrich and connect our society.

Find out more

Read more

  • Stories

    We Gather sheds light on the ecology of craft created by Black and Asian women in Britain

  • Research library

    Making changes in craft

  • Crafts Council opportunity

    Opportunities

    Be a Make! Craft! Live! partner

  • Stories

    Report on racism in craft launches


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