As part of her first UK solo show, British artist Kirstie Macleod will exhibit a wide spectrum of her body of work that pays homage to the intricate skill of embroidery, a primary focus of expression in her art. Macleod is known for her unique and contemporary approach to the fine art of embroidery and has become the subject of study in many distinguished needlepoint bodies including the Royal School of Needlework.

Exhibits in her London show will include ongoing projects such as the decade-long embroidery piece Barocco and new works such as Lacuna; a framed block of needlepointed squares worked onto aluminium mesh, Pop; a delicate painting created with thousands of tiny dots and the Quantum series; intricate embroideries composed of tiny embroidered squares.

At the private view on the 5th March and on the 4th of April as well there will be a performance of Barocco by Kirstie MacLeod whilst sitting inside the original perspex cube.

About Barocco

Initially funded by the British Council, Barocco is a decade-long embroidery project by British artist Kirstie Macleod that is centred around a single red dress. Since 2009, the dress has travelled around the world being continuously embroidered and added to by 50 different participants to date. Its most recent contributors include the Bedouin Fanasina collective, a group of female embroiderers based in Egypt’s Sinai who provide economic independence and education to women in the region. Taken from the ancient Portuguese word for a “rough or imperfect pearl”, Barocco is a performance piece where Kirstie Macleod sits within a central Perspex cube wearing and embroidering the ornate red dress that fills the tiny space around her.

Over the remaining five years, elements of Barocco will be worked on and over by embroiderers around the globe until the dress is so heavily decorated that the dress and its bodice will be able to stand up on its own as a sculptural exhibit within its Perspex cube. Individually delicate and decorative, the unique stitches by people all over the world add the layers and layers of expression that create the strong and rigid armour of the art piece that is the Barocco dress. The piece makes tangible the interplay through embroidery between a variety of cultures, each with their own identity and experience, who express themselves through their stitches.

About the artist:

Kirstie Macleod experiments with the idea of garments and dresses representing the self. Currently based in Somerset, Macleod has exhibited widely at shows such as Art Dubai and institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts, The ICA and The Barbican in London and has received numerous international art prizes such as the Valcellina Award for Textiles, Italy and the British Council. Macleod's work can also be seen in many notable private and commercial collections in London, and abroad.

Macleod’s work explores issues of identity, the subconscious and the passage of time through photography, film, painting, textile-based works and large-scale immersive multi-media performance installations. Macleod's work seeks to articulate specific events and interactions through a kaleidoscopic, emotion led vision. Her works embody dreamlike states, often using hidden codes and mythical symbolism to portray elements of the unconscious mind.