RWA announces 'Summer of Textiles' with new exhibitions

The RWA has announced a 'Summer of Textiles,' which will include exhibitions, events and installations that are bursting with stories, colours and textures. 

Image: Soft Power at the RWA 

Key exhibition: Soft Power

Lives Told Through Textile Art is an international exhibition exploring how textiles is used as a form of portraiture, and a vehicle to amplify hidden stories and shared human experiences. The exhibition includes Alice Kettle, Erin M. Riley,  Enam Gbewonyo as well as historical pieces that include a silk embroidery by RWA founder, Ellen Sharples, not seen for many years and recently conserved, on loan from Bristol Musuems.  

Image: Clean the Front Door by Erin M. Riley 

Key installation: Luke Jerram’s Negotiated Space

This giant experimental 1km long line drawing by international artist Luke Jerram that will take over the exterior of the Grade II* Listed RWA Art Gallery before entering a window of the building and exploring the upper floor of the gallery. 

This summer the Historic RWA opens its doors for the ‘Summer of Textiles’ - a season of exhibitions, events and installations that are set to be bursting with stories, colours and textures. 

In the headline exhibition, opening 17 May, explore stories of lived experience in Soft Power: Lives Told Through Textile Art. Curated by Professors Lesley Millar and Alice Kettle, the exhibition uses textiles as a form of portraiture: a vehicle to amplify hidden stories, challenge perceptions and celebrate shared human experiences. 

This exhibition brings together stories of identity shaped by migration, hidden lives, and transformative personal narratives and includes: 

• Alice Kettle: ‘Together’ featuring 500 hand stitched drawings submitted by individuals, schools and organisations including AccessArt, the Black Swan Arts and Strode College 
• Pippa Hetherington: ‘Cuttings 1820 – 2020' a collaborative piece created with Keiskamma Arts Project in South Africa  
• Enam Gbewonyo: ‘Under the Skin of a Guild: Wake of Lost Souls’ is a dress that featured in the artists performance unearthing the role of London’s Guildhall in slavery and colonisation. 
• Ellen Sharples: Eastern Heads. An intricate silk-tapestry from RWA founder and pioneer of female-portraiture, Ellen Sharples. 
• Lasmin Salmon: An unconventional, large-scale sculptural works consisting of meticulously constructed smaller textile forms. Lasmin is represented by ActionSpace who create opportunities and enables learning disabled artists to realise their potential. ActionSpace represent 2025 Turner Prize nominee Nnena Kalu 

Alongside this internationally renowned artist and RWA Academician Luke Jerram’s large-scale experimental drawing, Negotiated Space, will take over the exterior of the Grade II* Listed RWA Art Gallery before entering a window of the building and exploring the upper floor of the gallery. 

This giant experimental 1km long line drawing is made of 1000m of 20cm wide magenta ribbon and will alter its appearance with the changing wind and weather conditions. 

Luke Jerram said of the piece "“RWA were looking for an art intervention, that would help celebrate and advertise their latest exhibition inside the building. This artwork is both a simple sculptural intervention of the space outside the museum and an experimental three-dimensional drawing. It’s been great fun, developing this new experimental project with the team. We’re literally taking a line, for a walk!” 

Throughout the summer the RWA will be host to more exhibitions and one-off events that explore textiles, from Bristol Refugee Artists Collective ‘Sharing Love’ featuring a co-created dress from Dorcas Dress Project charity (DDP) to the Summer After-Hours Event with music from Diverse Artists Network to Connecting Threads from the RWA’s artists, the Academicians.