Alison Batten

I work with fragments of cloth and found objects. I love them and to me each has a heritage which creates its own story. My work is concerned with interpreting or disclosing these stories.

The fabrics I work with are vintage, antique, or contemporary remnants which I’ve collected over many years. They’re offcuts, discards, op shop finds, pieces salvaged from my travels or ragbag items saved for their beauty, colour or texture. The moth holes, flaws, repairs and frayed edges stay in the work, and I rarely alter an uneven shape or reject cloth in poor condition. I work with it as it guides me to. I’ll find a place for any scrap of fabric if it’s interesting to me. Old doilies and lace find expression far beyond the decorative in my work, and poor attempts at darning are honoured, or at least given a place in a story. Synthetic material, apart from pre 1950s or 60s, isn’t of much interest to me, though I’ll give it a try if it’s not too ordinary. I’m currently working with a scrap of torn wetsuit found at Gnarabup, and finding it challenging.