Invisible illness, visible stories, through Embroidery art – An exhibition by Sandra Streeter

Sandra Streeter – Textile Artist

Invisible illness, visible stories, through Embroidery art.

Sandra Streeter is an embroidery textile artist exploring what it means to live with invisible illness. Her creative practice includes a diverse range of mediums, painting, stitching, upcycling, printmaking. Her process is an alchemy of paint, textures and fibres interwoven with intuitive interventions. Her work is a ritual, it is an experience of letting go, a catharsis.

This body of work sets personal moments of her life exploring humanity and the efforts to express the complex experience with pain, grief, trauma, and the intrinsic vulnerability of living in a body which gets sick after physical exertion or stress.  This work is a visceral response to the catastrophic changes happening to her body, mental health and expresses a need to connect with other people suffering from an invisible, painful, health condition.

“I decided to investigate the neurological system to understand where the pain originates. I ground my work by researching Histology, Neurology, and Electro-microscopy Biology to create drawings, collages and samples that could be adjusted to my style as a way to express myself and the subject through bright colours, shapes and embellishments using hand embroidery techniques.

I was born and raised in the colourful land of Colombia. My approach is contemporary whilst reflecting my Latin American identity. I engage emotionally with my work, an open-minded woman who doesn’t settle for the common trend. My work ethic and love for textiles was engrained by my mother a textile worker.

My practice is always thinking about how to be sustainable and eco-friendly, a crucial subject for the environment, and a turning point facing the textile industry. My aim is to highlight this topic by using and reusing textiles reducing my footprint in the environment.

I graduate from the prestigious College of Art at Ulster University with a specialization in hand embroidery techniques.

I am a member of the Northern Ireland Patchwork Guild and Embroidery Guild. I also facilitate a variety of textiles and mix media workshops. I create large- and small-scale textile artwork for exhibitions, for commission, and for sale using old and new linen, patchwork techniques, hand, and machine embroidery, combined with embellishments.”

Open Monday – Friday 9.30am-4.30pm , Saturday 10am-4pm , closed Sundays.

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