The Arts & Minds Network is holding their next big event at LAB while Shoddy is on, which is great news. Arts & Minds events are always friendly and welcoming. This will be a chance to see the exhibition, do something creative, hear from performers and meet other creative people. You can get updates about … More Arts & Minds Big Event at Shoddy, 14th April
We’ve been using images from Andrew Towse and Anne-Marie Atkinson’s series, The Dark Light, in some of the publicity for Shoddy. Here they explain how they made these striking pictures, which look even more impressive in real life. “We placed scraps of coloured cloth, silver foil, cotton wool, bandages, balls of wool and steel wool … More The Dark Light
Becky Fawcett uses materials which are often overlooked in her embroidered poems, which will be on show in the exhibition. Art and making has been vitally important to Becky. “My work is the result of working hard to overcome the after-effects of a stroke in 2012, aged 37. I found it very difficult to write, … More Things seen as shoddy can in fact be of use
Aoife O’Rourke is one of the artists taking part in Shoddy. “Hyde Your Shadow” is a series combining textile forms with metal cage-like structures. Here’s what she says about her work: Having a deep curiosity in the human mind, paired with my own experience of mental health issues is what fuels the majority of my … More Our inner self can be fragile but beautifully strong & resistant
One of the artists taking part in Shoddy, Vickie Orton, has chosen the theme of a maze to reflect the experience of working your way through the benefit system: “It’s like navigating a maze, so often you’re faced with dead ends or turnings that look promising but lead nowhere.” The blanket that forms the background to … More The Maze of Life
An event at Leeds Museum for the national Disabled Access Day on Saturday was a good opportunity to chat to a few people about Shoddy. I wanted to find out whether people knew the original meaning of the word and what they thought of it as a title for an exhibition by disabled artists. I … More Challenges perceptions and attitudes
This week I’ll be sharing some writing and opinions from disabled people who’ve contacted or been contacted by Shoddy. While not part of the exhibition, their words and concerns are worth sharing as part of this project, particularly in this budget week, to show what austerity means in practice. See also Steve Groves’ comments under … More Fools in High Places
This is another post looking back through disabled people’s history, but from more recent times. The title was a chant at a demo against benefit cuts by the Disabled People’s Direct Action Network (DAN) which took place in Leeds on 17th March 1998. Reading through the leaflets and press releases produced for this action, I’m struck … More “Benefits cuts have got to go!”
Bringing two of Shoddy’s themes together, I wanted to find out about disabled people’s roles in the textile mills during the industrial revolution (1760 – 1820) and the period afterwards. This also led to thinking about the textile industry as a cause of impairment / disability. A number of academics and researchers on Twitter pointed … More Disabled mill workers, shoddy fever, harsh times, positive contributions
Shoddy exhibition 