PRICK! Needlework Now

PRICK! Needlework Now brings together works of art by Australian and international artists who use stitching as a fundamental part of their art practice. Slow and meditative, using a needle is fiddly and time-consuming work. Often overlooked in contemporary art practice, needlework has only recently received renewed critical attention. Whether the surface is textile, paper, flat or three-dimensional, pricking, piercing and puncturing take centre stage. 

Needlework is fundamental to visual cultures across the globe; the materials are easy to access, are often inexpensive and the outcomes can be breathtaking. This exhibition presents the expanded ways a needle can be used as an artist’s tool. PRICK! Needlework Now includes artists from Australia, Indonesia, India, and Vietnam, celebrating each artist’s unique technique and approach to this delicate, complex and precise medium. 

PRICK! includes works by Maggie Baxter, Aaron Billings, Jayeeta Chatterjee, Carly Tarkari Dodd, Melinda Harper, Michelle Hamer, Talitha Kennedy, Kate O’Boyle, Octora, Louise Rippert, Gurjeet Singh, Louise Saxton, Mien Thao Tran, Kasia Tons and Lisa Walker. 

Curated by Helen Rayment.  

This exhibition has been produced by RMIT Culture at RMIT Gallery. PRICK! Needlework Now has been supported by the Gordon Darling Foundation and is part of the PayPal Melbourne Fashion Festival’s Independent Programme. 

Kasia Tons, Tarpaulin diary, 2018. Courtesy of MARS and the artist. 

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