Giant Weave performed 2022 dance outside, where dancers hold fabric and weave ti like a loom
Giant Weave, 2022. Photo: Tia Washington
Giant Weave performed 2022 dance outside, where dancers hold fabric and weave ti like a loom
Giant Weave, 2022. Photo: Abi Spendlove
Giant Weave performed 2022 dance outside, where dancers hold fabric and weave ti like a loom
Giant Weave, 2022. Photo: Tia Washington

Giant Weave, 2005 (ongoing)

Size – variable

poly-cotton and polyester fabric, thread

Giant Weave enlarges the scale of weaving. Through the repetition and rhythm – shapes and movements are emphasized. Giant Weave takes the process of weaving off the loom and turns it into something spectacular to be celebrated.

The artwork is a performance which can involve dancers or participants working together to weave a piece of fabric through their physical movements. The fabric is woven from strips of fabric held by the participants.

Giant Weave highlights the shapes and structures that were formed as the lines of yarn move through the mechanism of the loom. When studying at Goldsmiths College, the artist wanted to draw and capture the loom in process, rather than complete a woven piece of fabric. It is this process of weaving that inspired the piece, creating order from chaos, something from nothing – alchemy.

Images above: Giant Weave (Hatfield Iteration), 2022, taken at Milll Green Museum, as part of Fluid Time exhibition, working with BEEE Creative Dance Company in 2022. Images below are Giant Weave(Goldsmiths Iteration), 2005, part of the Big Draw at Goldsmiths College.

People performing a Giant Weave indoors and weaving fabric as they move
Giant Weave, 2005
People performing a Giant Weave indoors and weaving fabric as they move
Giant Weave, 2005
People performing a Giant Weave indoors and weaving fabric as they move
Giant Weave, 2005