Lynn Setterington: An online retrospective

Lynn Setterington has created hand stitched textiles for over 40 years since undertaking a textiles degree at Goldsmiths College in London in the early 1980s. Over time her work has seen many shifts and changes, but celebrating the overlooked and everyday remain constant.

"At the beginning of lockdown, I began posting images online from my personal collections, picking 30 objects of embroidered items to showcase. These were items bought on travels, given as gifts and some acquired in charity shops and car boot sales. The response to this first exhibition was positive and led me to examine my own work and many forgotten or overlooked pieces, for though my work is in a number of major collections including the V&A, Whitworth Art Gallery and Denver Museum of Art, it has rarely been seen in public exhibitions.

I started to create an online collection of my own work, beginning with small hand stitched narratives of my life, and how I adapted to the capital after living in a small Yorkshire village. I also discussed how the places I've stitched have changed over time, for example Brixton market or Brick Lane. My exploration of my work also highlighted changes in my practice over time, from the late 1980s, when I became known for kantha work, a type of embroidery originating in Bengal.

This exploration also showcased the work I produced in the 1990s, such as delivering community-based projects with Asian women’s groups which developed into broader socially engaged agendas over time. This included a number of commissions involving a range of communities, for example with Belsay Hall in Northumberland, Touchstones, Rochdale Rd and Hulme, South Manchester as well as the US and India.

This online retrospective is one of my responses to the pandemic, as an introvert and someone always on the go, the current crisis has offered me an opportunity to be visible, to look back, reflect and to take stock. I am also currently working on Unfolding Origins exploring the North Yorkshire County Records office archives. As someone whose practice has focused on shared strategies for many years, I am now reflecting on where and how I operate in the post-covid world."

You can see more of Lynn's work on her website, or follow her on Instagram or Twitter.

CuratorSpace are currently featuring articles by artists, curators and organisations who want to share their experiences of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, whether that is artists using their practice as a way of exploring new boundaries of isolation, or as a way to connect more broadly with their communities. We are also interested in hearing from curators and organisations who are offering support to artists and audiences during this time.

Contact us at louise@curatorspace.com to share your story.
 

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