Hollie Phillips

I believe the future of embroidery to be as grotesque, interactive, and surreal as the creator can imagine. Morphing into something that is completely different to what embroidery once was.

I use embroidery to tell a story though, no mater how traumatic, I believe embroidery has the power to bring sometimes horrific narratives to life. As a woman in embroidery, it is important to have a voice. I could let my work plateau among the other stitchers in my field, instead I choose to go against the norm, whether this is met with celebration or disgust.  I believe this to be because I enjoy the uncanny juxtaposition between an unsettling scenario being presented through a very tactile medium like embroidery. It can be rather jarring to see beaded blood and gore presented on a sanitary product, automatically making the viewer feel uneasy and possibly sickened, until your brain realises that it is only embroidery.

Traditionally, embroidery is perceived as a feminine task, sometimes for necessity (mending), sometimes for hobby, usually something rather proper and ridged, full of pretty things. But embroidery doesn’t just have to be a feminine task, it can be a feminist task, creating questions that demand answers, showing a stance and breaking boundaries that are set in place. So, this is probably why in my practice I am driven by ‘the horrific’ and try to bring a sense of unease through my work with embroidery, to break the stigma attached to this artform and the stigmas that have been attached to myself, while also expanding the audience’s awareness of what embroidery can be.