Get ready to unravel your perceptions of fabric and fashion at the Art Gallery of South Australia’s groundbreaking new exhibition, four years in the making.
From punk fashion to protest banners, Radical Textiles takes you on an immersive journey to experience how textiles have shaped our history.
Opening 23 November, this world-exclusive showcase weaves together art, activism and fashion in ways you’ve never seen before.
Textiles as tools for change
Radical Textiles isn’t your grandma’s quilt show (though she might love it too!). This exhibition spans 150 years of textile history, showcasing the ways fabric has been used to express powerful social and political messages.
Featuring more than 150 artists, designers and activists, it includes everything from suffragette sashes to avant-garde wedding dresses, creating a powerful tapestry of resistance, revival, revelry and remembrance.
Rebecca Evans, co-curator of the exhibition with Leigh Robb, explains that the very title – Radical Textiles – is meant to challenge expectations. “People don’t normally think of the words ‘radical’ and ‘textile’ together,” she says.
For many, textiles still bring to mind images of knitting groups, “women of a certain age” and “docile femininity”. This exhibition aims to turn that perception on its head.
Exhibits include the “teeny, tiny pair of pink shorts” former South Australian Premier Don Dunstan wore to Parliament in 1972, which have come to embody so much “heritage, myth and mystery” around the idea of South Australia as a progressive state.
The exhibition highlights how generations of South Australians picked up needles and thread to fight for voting rights, equal pay and climate justice.
It also features First Nations artists and fashion designers using textiles to defy and deconstruct colonisation – showing that fabric can be a powerful tool for storytelling and change.
William Morris: The original textile rebel
Radical Textiles starts with William Morris, the 19th-century designer who redefined what textiles could be.
“Morris was the ultimate radical,” Rebecca says. “At a time when industrialisation was transforming the world, he returned to techniques that had almost died out – handmade textiles, natural dyes and traditional looms – as an act of rebellion.”
Morris wasn’t just an artist – he was an early eco warrior, socialist and supporter of the suffrage movement.
Rebecca says that his intricate, handcrafted tapestries were a reaction against mass production, valuing the artisans’ craftsmanship over mechanisation.
The exhibition shows how Morris’ ethos of craftsmanship and resistance lives on in the work of contemporary textile artists.
Studio, born Tokyo, operating 1970- , Minaret, woman’s ankle-length dress, Spring Summer 1995, Tokyo, polyester, 208.0 x 93.0 cm; National Gallery of Australia, Purchased 1995 with funds donated by Eva and Marc Besen through the Besen Foundation (right).
Why textiles matter now
Rebecca believes that Radical Textiles taps into a larger cultural moment.
“I think the zeitgeist is a deep desire across all levels of society for concepts of care and community, particularly as a result of the pandemic lockdowns,” she says.
In an age of digital overload, the tactile nature of textiles offers a unique appeal.
“People try to create and busy their hands in ways that don’t involve technology. Being creative is a radical act. Being away from technology, going offline—these things are very radical.
“When you pick up a needle and thread, or a knitting or crochet needle, you connect yourself to traditions that go back generations, and you become part of these matriarchal lines.”
Women’s labour is a thread that runs through the entire show. The exhibition includes 215 pieces made collectively by around 700 pairs of hands. More than 90 per cent of the pieces are made by women.
Fashion forward: From runway to revolution
Radical Textiles doesn’t just stitch together history: It struts down the catwalk of contemporary fashion, showcasing how designers use fabric for bold statements and social change through an “enormous frock-out moment,” says Rebecca.
The exhibition features an impressive lineup of international and Australian fashion designers, including:
- Vivienne Westwood, the late punk icon and ultimate iconoclast, whose tartan wedding dress, famously worn by Kate Moss in 1994, is a highlight.
- Iris van Herpen, known for her futuristic, sculptural designs that push the boundaries of fabric.
- Jordan Gogos, a rising star in Australian fashion with an avant-garde edge.
- Paul Vasileff of Paolo Sebastian, South Australia’s own couture label, celebrated for his ethereal designs.
- Grace Lilian Lee, the First Nations artist who will debut new creations that redefine perceptions of art, fashion and design.
One standout piece is Viktor&Rolf’s “Get mean” gown from their 2019 spring haute couture collection – a voluminous tulle creation that fuses fashion with sharp, witty commentary drawn from social media culture.
“Fashion is an integral part of all of our lives, whether we like to acknowledge it or not,” Rebecca says. “It’s a wonderful way in which we all express our own sense of identity as well as a way of trying to progress change in our world.”
Pop Art meets craft: The Studio experience
One of the most exciting elements of Radical Textiles is The Studio: Frida Las Vegas, a vibrant and interactive space where visitors can unleash their creativity.
South Australian artist Stavroula Adameitis, AKA Frida Las Vegas, describes The Studio as an “exuberant and highly energetic space” where people can “draw, colour, cut, paste, and play to their heart’s content”.
Stavroula was inspired by the idea of visitors stepping “inside a bolt of fabric” when entering The Studio. She wants people to see how drawings become textiles, and to share her personal creative journey.
“The illustrations represent a memory, a person, a place or an idea that I have connected with. When you look at the walls of The Studio, you are effectively looking at my lifetime of experiences in plain sight,” she says.
Her hope is that all visitors – children, families and adults alike – will enjoy the freedom of experimenting with lines, shapes, and colours, and ultimately create artworks that are “as unique and fabulous as they are!”
A textile takeover: Events and workshops
Radical Textiles isn’t confined to gallery walls. The Art Gallery of South Australia has planned an awesome series of interactive events and workshops to complement the exhibition:
- Opening Weekend Thread Talks: Hear from artists and designers like Nell, Kay Lawrence, and Jordan Gogos.
- Summer Workshops: Get hands-on with knitting, visible mending and scarf design.
- Stitch and Resist: A collaborative art project inviting South Australian students to highlight social issues through textiles.
For more information about Radical Textiles and its Radical Events program, click here.
