Heritage Flags Project: The Bowes Museum (2025)

Process I, Process II, Process III, In Progress [Curtain Call]

Historical artefacts collected [primarily] by the museum’s co-founder, Joséphine Bowes (1825-1874), have been re-collected and re-placed to create contemporary compositions of digitally curated objects, forming fresh collections and making new relationships between objects in a different context.

This series of three flags and a stitched tapestry design, illustrates both making and re-making, as well as the time-consuming and developmental process of creating such detailed and intricate handcrafted works of art. The intervention of modern technology through digital collage techniques shows a process in progress, the construction of new connections and relationships, along with a continuous cycle of curatorial possibilities.

The artist invites viewers to consider how collections evolve and how meaning shifts through context.  In addition, she plays with the two-dimensionality of the format, encouraging a perceived tactility brought by the inclusion of the exquisite handmade textile pieces. The work weaves past and present together as an evolving dialogue exploring narratives of the undone and unfinished, highlighting a dynamic relationship between the historic crafted objects and contemporary practice.