Lewisham artist’s tapestry tales of lockdown life

Artist and embroiderer Tina Crawford. Pic: Tina Crawford

Embroidery artist Tina Crawford has made the most out of lockdown, using isolation to engage with new audiences and start projects in response to the changing world around her.

After a career in TV ended by illness, the free embroidery artist and Central Saint Martins alumna took up artistry full time and can usually be found at Deptford’s Second Floor Studios. She has previously exhibited works across London, including at Croydon’s Rise Gallery and Tower Hamlets’ Leyden Gallery, and has permanent displays from Margate to New York.

And though self-isolation has limited her usual flow of work, Crawford has found inspiration in the pandemic, keeping busy with a new embroidered tapestry piece depicting strangers’ lockdown highlights, submitted to her through social media.

Crawford, 48, said: “The tapestry came about because right from the beginning of lockdown, I knew I wanted to do something in response to the virus but I wasn’t sure what.”

“The idea is that we’re all isolated but we have these threads of connections, like connected isolation. It will be 2 metres by 2 metres because that’s what we’re all working to,” she continued.

Part of the tapestry. Pic: Tina Crawford

Initially, Crawford said, the idea wasn’t based around highlights at all and was meant to reflect lockdown experiences both negative and positive. But after receiving the first few submissions, it became clear that it was going to be an upbeat piece of work.

“It wasn’t actually highlights, to begin with. I originally put out a call saying ‘send me your lockdown moments, a moment which says lockdown to you.’ It was really vague but without a doubt, everything that came in was really positive, there wasn’t anything negative. There was pottery, gardening, bird watching and someone sent me a poem their mum had written,” Crawford said.

Through these submissions, Crawford pointed out that the concept at the heart of the project, that of interconnectivity in spite of isolation, had been all the more realised, with a litany of strangers sending her intimate moments and a number of celebrities getting involved, too, from designer Vivienne Westwood to singer Sophie Ellis Bextor.

“Mel Giedroyc [the tv presenter] has got involved. She does quilting so she sent me something, and Sophie Ellis Bextor has been in contact which is lovely. There are very few of my friends in there, it’s all been social media contacts,” Crawford pointed out. 

This, Crawford said, is testament to the time we’re living in; one of unprecedented connectivity which has enabled many of us to mitigate the loneliness which would otherwise be part and parcel of self-isolation and lockdown. 

Vivienne Westwood on the tapestry. Pic: Tina Crawford

“Twenty years ago, I was housebound for ten years due to disability so this feels like lockdown round two for me. But this has been much better, twenty years ago I just had day time TV so there’s a lot to be grateful for,” Crawford said. 

“I’ve used social media more than I ever have before. I think it makes you realise that out of all the times to have a lockdown, this has been the best time, if there is ever a time to shut away and still be connected this is it. This couldn’t have happened ten years ago.

The experience of isolation has also allowed Crawford to refocus on what she sees as important. 

“I think for a lot of people who have lost work it’s made them look at their lives and I think we’ve all had that, which I’m grateful for because it’s something that you only get if it’s forced upon you. It makes you realise that ‘this isn’t necessarily what I should be doing’ and twenty years ago when I was ill it was this feeling that kicked started me to go full time as an artist.”

“I think there will be a lot of people who come out of this and think ‘actually, I might want to this as opposed to this,’ so we can try and see it as a bonus,” Crawford said.

A stitched portrait. Pic: Tina Crawford

But Crawford’s experience in lockdown hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing, with the opportunity to focus on passion projects coming at the expense of a loss of commercial work: “The commercial side of my business is that I design giftware for museum and heritage shops and all my big orders would be there and I’ve missed out on them,” she pointed out.

A lack of real-life interaction with her contemporaries has impacted Crawford, too: “I have really missed being in the studio. That’s my space and that’s been quite difficult, as an artist you can’t be a complete hermit.”

Yet even in lockdown, Crawford says there has been more than enough inspiration for her work, not least in the form of the recent Black Lives Matter protests, something she has been creating work in response to alongside her tapestry. 

“There was a slight break because when everything with George Floyd kicked off. There was a pause and I did start stitching about Black Lives Matter. I’m Asian and I have experienced racism and what happened with that jolted us, it made us all pause and think.”

Ultimately, Crawford hopes her work can speak to the world around her and memorialise the experiences people are going through. The Tapestry serves as a reminder that there are positives to come out of the pandemic and that for many of us, the balance is still tipped in favour of happiness and optimism. 

Submissions for Crawford’s tapestry remain open and can be sent to her via social media. Second Floor Studios is also hosting their virtual open studios this week via their Instagram.

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