Michelle Abbott
London & Brighton
VIsual conceptual artist working with threads and mixed media.
I have been working with threads in my work for over 15 years after originally being a painter since graduating from the University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh College of Art in 1996. Whilst developing a new body of work which questioned human connections, chance meetings and digital interactions, I felt that paint was the wrong medium and I started using threads as a drawing medium on paper to literally tie connections together. Threads are now my primary medium and I have produced several series’ of works on paper and canvas incorporating non-objective subject matter and abstracted text. In 2011 my paternal family tree was traced back to 1815, all rooted in the East End of London around Bethnal Green and Shoreditch – the weavers and tailors’ quarters of that time. Looking back at my lineage there are generations of tailors, silk winders and haberdashers – I knew nothing of this when I started working with threads. In 2013 I was invited to show a series of these works in a medical centre in Bethnal Green, in conjunction with the Whitechapel Gallery, and an independent gallery in Shoreditch and it felt like a homecoming of sorts. In 2022 I received a DYCP Arts Council award to undertake a period of historical research and work experimentation investigating further into my roots of East End Tailors. I use threads as a drawing medium, sculptural material and colour form and incorporate their symbolism into certain questions based around human connections, domestic bliss and more recently socio-economic divides.
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