Held Together - Ann Middleton

Coventry University
 
Sculpture: Repurposed textiles (t-shirt yarn, reclaimed garments, wool knit, textile filling)
 
Repurposed garments from the artist’s family have been reworked into a continuous thread. The work considers how material carries memory through wear, as knotting and accumulation gather the fabric into an entwined form holding traces of past lives and lived experience. Using discarded clothing and reclaimed textiles, the sculpture explores ideas of connection, care, labour, and the emotional residue embedded within everyday materials.
 
Artist Statement
I am a Coventry University Fine Art graduate (2025), working primarily in sculpture and material-led practice, often using repurposed textiles, found materials, and processes of accumulation and repetition.
Since graduating, I have been developing a socially engaged project exploring menopause, shared experience and connection. The project has been awarded Arts Council England funding and is now moving into its initial development stage, involving research and the beginning of collaborative workshop-based work with women "of a certain age".
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​My wider practice is concerned with how materials can hold memory and emotional residue, and how processes of making can reflect care, labour, and embodied experience. I am interested in the intersection between sculptural work and socially engaged practice, where material transformation becomes a way of holding both personal and collective narratives.