Friday, 29 March 2024

Textile Details

'The People make the city', by Janet Wilkinson & Susan Beck. (Photo: Susan Beck)
'The People make the city', by Janet Wilkinson & Susan Beck. (Photo: Susan Beck)

 

Title of Textile:The People make the city
Maker: Janet Wilkinson and Susan Beck
Country of Origin: England
Year Produced: 2011
Size (cm): 48cm x 49cm
Materials: recycled donated fabrics, yarn, thread, wadding, nylon tights, wire, hand and machine stitched
Type of Textile: Arpillera
Description:

In 2010 as part of the Following the Thread - Arpilleras and Quilts Exhibition hosted by the Liverpool World museum, a series of well attended community textile workshops on the theme of heritage took place. These workshops, where children and adults shared their life stories through making arpilleras, resulted in the creation of several textile pieces.

The People make the city is a reflective piece by Janet Wilkinson and Susan Beck on the workshop process and subsequent exhibitions. "It was their story [workshop participants] we were telling with our arpillera." comments Susan.

In this piece the iconic buildings of Liverpool, a seafaring port on the river Mersey, are depicted. However, as Susan and Janet both acknowledge: "it is the people who live in it that make the city and are at its heart." In this case, based on the diverse origins of those who attended the workshops, the "heart" of Liverpool, is made up of people who had settled in this port, throughout the ages, from all over the world including Africa, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Bangladesh, China, Egypt, England, Eritrea, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Scotland, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Yemen. Only some were originally from Liverpool

The value of fostering shared understanding between diverse groups is emphasised by Susan: "In any city when the people meet together to talk and share their lives then we move closer to understanding, compassion and peace in the community."

Owner: Conflict Textiles collection
Location: Conflict Textiles store
Original / Replica: Original
Photographer: Susan Beck
Provenance: Janet Wilkinson and Susan Beck



Textile exhibited at: Stitching Peace: An exhibition of Arpilleras and Quilts, 16/02/2011 - 18/03/2011
Stitching Peace: An exhibition of arpilleras and quilts, 17/05/2011 - 25/05/2011
Story Makers 2008-2011, Twenty-five textile stories, 13/03/2012 - 18/06/2012
Stitching and Unstitching The Troubles-phase 1, 5/09/2012 - 29/09/2012
Arpilleras in contested spaces, 3/09/2013 - 6/09/2013
Women 31 , 7/03/2014 - 15/04/2014
COSIENDO PAZ: Conflicto, Arpilleras, Memoria , 26/03/2015 - 30/09/2015
COSIENDO PAZ: Conflicto, Arpilleras, Memoria, 8/10/2015 - 4/04/2016
COSIENDO PAZ: Conflicto, Arpilleras, Memoria , 13/04/2016 - 12/06/2016
Stitched Voices / Lleisiau wedi eu Pwytho, 25/03/2017 - 13/05/2017
Stitched Voices: Knowing conflict through textiles, 17/11/2017 - 20/12/2017
Stitched Voices - textila berättelse om politisk våld och motstånd , 29/08/2018 - 21/04/2019
Retrospective, back to the future 1989-2019-2030/RÜCK BLICK NACH VORNE 1989-2019-2030, 4/05/2019 - 31/10/2019
Poesie des Nähens / The Poetry of Stitching, 17/01/2020 - 8/03/2020
WE CANNOT WALK ALONE – Refugee week 2021 , 5/05/2021 - 21/06/2021
Con-textualizando la memoria / Contextualising memory, 4/09/2021 - 8/09/2021
Suitcases: Telling Textile Travels /Maletas: Contando Viajes Textiles, 1/10/2021 - 7/11/2021
Reflections on Refugees: Communicating through Art, 29/03/2022 - 16/05/2022
ARK / Conflict Textiles , 1/06/2023 - 6/03/2024



Textile Detail Image(s)