Fabric of Our Lives – An immersive Photographic and Textile Exhibition set to tour the UK in 2020,
opens January 29th as part of ARTWALK Wakefield.

Fabric of Our Lives is a new installation by Artist, Matilda Velevitch and Photographer, Sol
Aizcorbe. It comprises of seven large hanging tapestries, a photographic exhibition and ambient
audio stories. As the viewer walks through the space, they will be immersed in the artistic
workshop environment where these pieces were first created.

Fabric of Our Lives was devised as an artistic project for Refugee Week, to accompany the UK
Tour of award winning play, THREE MOTHERS in 2019. The themes are Women Moving Forward,
Female Refugee and Asylum Seekers, the Textile Industry and Home.
In 2019, a series of fabric based artistic workshops were held for women in former Textile towns
(Wakefield, Bradford, Bolton and Manchester) which historically and currently receive a large
number of Migrants and Asylum Seekers. Further workshops were held at the Migration Museum
London, the Whitworth Gallery, Refugee Week, Sheffield and in a Caritas Safe house for Refugee
Women in Calais.
The participants (refugees, asylum seekers and locally born women) who share the same
“neighbourhood,” are the contributing artists. Their tapestry work, their stories and their
portraits have been curated into an exhibition made up of:

. Tapestry of Our Lives: 7 hanging collaborative tapestries
. Portraits of Our Lives: A photographic exhibition (52 prints) made up of four categories:
Portraits, Industry, Connection and Calais.
. Snippets of Our Lives: An immersive audio ambience made up of collected and shared
anecdotes during the workshops.
. Workshops: Free Fabric of Our Lives Workshops with the artists will be held during the Artwalk
exhibition.
Matilda Velevitch says: “I designed the Fabric of Our Lives Workshops to invite a wide range of
women to come together to create a lasting piece of participative art for exhibition, symbolising
and celebrating the importance of women moving forward, rebuilding lives and creating a new
perspective of “home” within changing communities in Britain. Every part of this exhibition is the
result of artistic female collaboration, and we are very excited to launch the project in Wakefield
where we first hosted two workshops.
I would like to thank The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting us, as well as the artistic
collaboration of Arthouse Wakefield, City of Sanctuary, Counterpoint Arts, Journeys Festival,
Migration Matters Festival, the Migration Museum, London and Art Refuge UK.”
Listings Info
Artists: Matilda Velevitch and Sol Aizcorbe
Title: Fabric of Our Lives
Dates: Wakefield: January 29 – February 2 (The Ridings, Wakefield, WF1 1DS)

Sheffield: June 15 – June 21
Manchester: October 4 – October 14
More dates to follow.
Times: 9.00am – 6.00pm
Admission: Free