Woven Voyage | Kazuhito Takadoi | Thurle Wright

The artists weave stories from words and the natural world.

26 October - 25 November

For this exhibition, two artists embark on voyages of ideas and imagination. From Australia and Japan, they both have journeyed into the UK to settle somewhere by the sea, seeking inspiration in the landscape and surrounding nature.

Kazuhito grows green and red grass in his back garden allowing them to mature until tender to be able to manipulate and embroider through the paper. The green grass will eventually fade and become a natural colour, creating stronger contrast and shadows in the works.

The Japanese paper string which is used for bookbinding in Japan, Kazuhito has dyed with avocado and red onion. Almost like a ritual, each strand is dyed individually, dipping it three times in the dye. Small beech branches are wrapped around with pages of an old Japanese dictionary, tiny symbols and marks giving new meanings.

Thurle Wright patiently folds, morphs, cuts and contorts her various paper sources, in order to distort and deconstruct their original meaning and purpose.

Pages from Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, Laurens Van der Post's The Lost World of the Kalahari and Everyday Gardening by J. Coutts of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are woven, stitched, sometimes stained, becoming rich fabrics that allow a new reading of the works.

A conversation in different materials, with their intricate and exquisite weaves, the artists invite the viewer to voyages of imagination.

Thurle Wright was born in Zimbabwe and now resides in Kent. She initially studied modern languages and literature before specialising in visual art and achieving her Degree in Textiles from Goldsmiths College. She works with a plethora of text materials, transforming atlases, books and dictionaries into complex paper works.

Kazuhito Takadoi trained in Agriculture and Horticulture in Japan the US and in the UK, before studying Art and Garden Design in the UK. In 2019 Kazuhito was awarded a Special Mention at the prestigious Loewe Crafts Prize and his work is now included in the Toshiba Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.