Textiles

Lucienne Day and others: Historic and contemporary textiles with an environmental edge

This is a past exhibition which ran from 14 February 2015 to 6 March 2016.

The reopening exhibition in the textile gallery celebrates, through an exploration of green and its associations, the rebirth of the Whitworth as a beautiful, extended gallery space, its new relationship with the Whitworth Park and the green spaces outdoors.

Many cultures associate the colour green with nature and nature’s attributes, including growth, fertility and rebirth. In recent years, green has also become the symbolic colour of the environmental movement. Drawing predominantly on the gallery’s own textiles collection, which ranges in date from the 3rd century AD to the present day, historic textiles from around the world are set alongside newly commissioned work from contemporary designers that responds to environmental issues – which underlines the fact that the new Whitworth is now one of the most environmentally-friendly galleries in the UK. Artists and designers represented include C. F. A. Voysey, Lucienne Day, Keith Vaughan, Michele Walker and Susie MacMurray.