Thread-making and threadwork is among women’s finest expressions of the mastery in skill and artistry, and from ancient civilization to modern society exquisite weaving, embroidery, and handicrafts have both transformed homes into houses of art and frequently became mediums of economic currency. With the practice thriving across countless societies and shaping cultural heritage, we at Redbase cannot help but ask: what is fundamentally about threadwork that makes it such a force of spirit and instinct for survival, imagination and identity? And how should we, as a gallery, best capture and display its hidden quiet of attitude, intent and process, which on close inspection, can be deafening?

Silent Threads is an exhibition presenting thread-making practice emphasising the unsaid. Undisclosed words, feelings and narratives concealed within artworks once intertwined in the hands of three female artists: Gao Rong, Yin Xiuzhen and Faelerie. You will experience Gao Rong’s beautiful letter: a conspicuous balancing act between an invitation for transgression with a warm permission to unfold and renew the past; Yin Xiuzhen’s comment on the modernisation of female labour, and what happens to the associated stored memories as the proverbial suitcase is closed and put onto its next journey. Finally, you enjoin with Faelerie as she finds her path as an emerging artist, navigating the various facets of the archetypical relationship between mother and daughter in a female hero’s journey. This exhibition ultimately constructs narratives about the interwoven growth and absence of interconnectivity between personal stories and place, and viewers are invited to quieten their minds so to be fully present with these extraordinary artworks.

Gao Rong

Yin Xiuzhen

Faelerie