'Barbara's Embroidery', embroidered fabric, 2025

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92 x 100cm, linen, wool (part 1950s, part modern)

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The ‘Barbara’s Embroidery’ series of artworks is based on a scrap of unfinished embroidery that was started by my grandmother before her death aged 37, which I found in the attic of my family home in 2023. At some point decades ago, my mother added some stitches of her own. The style of ‘Bargello’ (Florentine) embroidery is also called Hungarian point or sometimes Irish stitch. The original embroidery would have been intended for use in upholstery.

 

This embroidery is my own finished version of my grandmother’s original incomplete work. There were remnants of her 1950s yarn stored with the original sewing, so each row of colour in my embroidery starts off by using up her vintage threads and as those colours run out I use a modern replacement.  My intention was to realise her vision, to see it completed and in doing so experience a connection to her labour and her presence by replicating it. Due to complex family dynamics, my grandmother was rarely acknowledged after her death. The ‘Barbara’s Embroidery’ series of works is part tribute and part memorial to Barbara Blennerhassett.

 

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