Britto is an autonomous, artists’ led organisation registered as non-profit. Britto was set up in 2002 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is part of the world-wide network of Triangle Arts Trust, an international network of artists and arts organisations that promotes dialogue, exchange of ideas and innovation within the contemporary visual arts.

www.brittoartstrust.org
www.trianglenetwork.org

The International Artists’ Workshop brought together 19 artists from Bangladesh, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan and UK to live and work side by side, at Tepantor Film City, Valuka, Bangladesh.

Installation of Comfort Quilts and Long Arm of the Law
, 2003
cotton fabric, cotton wadding, cotton thread

Long Arm of the Law, 2003
cotton fabric, cotton wadding, cotton thread, handmade iron nails

Long Arm of the Law (detail)
, 2003
cotton fabric, cotton wadding, cotton thread, 
handmade iron nails

Bangladeshi Comfort Creatures, 
2003
yarn, plastic toys
In Private Collections

Leaf, Lips, Lipi, 2003
bamboo and plastic sieves, plastic wastepaper basket, yarn

I was filled with anxiety and apprehension about the two weeks that I was to spend in Bangladesh. I knew that there would be difficulties but nothing could have prepared me for what was the biggest difficulty of all – the dispersal of the Britto family and the knowledge that we would never be together again. I am left deeply affected by the relationships that I made and the different cultures that I experienced.

I worked on three projects for Britto which were initially inspired by the materials and skills which could be bought locally. For the Open Studio Day the projects were installed together in a building which was under construction. The entrance to my installation, The Long Arm of the Law, was marked by a hank of wool. This was the symbol used to indicate that there was wool for sale in the market in Dhaka, albeit unraveled from pre knitted jumpers!

My first project was a small series of dolls, which were related to a series of Comfort Creatures which I had made in the UK. These were made from plastic toys and the reclaimed wool. Making these new Bangladeshi Comfort Creatures was a way of dealing with the initial anxieties that I felt about working in an alien environment, in front of strangers and without my usual access to materials and skills.

The second project took the form of a huge embroidered face. This was taken from the cover of one of the many children’s’ alphabet books that I bought. The eyes were embroidered onto plastic sieves, whilst the nose was worked on a plastic wastepaper basket. The lips were represented by a leaf embroidered onto a round bamboo sieve. This image was taken from an educational chart, showing the parts of the human body, where the lips had been mislabeled as “leaf”. For me this mistake symbolized the many cultural misunderstandings that exist and represented my inability to speak even the simplest word in Bangla whilst everyone around me could speak my language.

The final project was a series of figurative quilts based on drawings that I had been doing just before I left the UK. The making of the quilts was inspired by how surprisingly cold it was at night and were a way of working with a textile process, other than that of knitting which I usually work with. Four distorted figures and a gun were made in conjunction with a local tailor and quilter. This was a very constructive, enjoyable collaboration, which also enabled me to spend a lot of time in the local market. I felt that I should re-title the workshop “Britto International Artists’ Shop”.

“Britto, better than the best”.

(Statement written for the catalogue for Britto International Artists’ Workshop – 2003.)

Common Enemies

2002 Cotton and woollen yarn, flyswats 
100 × 800 mm 
Private collection.

Common Enemies
- Mosquito 

2003 Yarn, bamboo sieve 
500 × 1250 × 50 mm

Common Enemies
- Water 

2003 Yarn, bamboo sieve 
500 × 1250 × 50 mm

The “Common Enemies” Series (2002 – 2006) began with a moth. This is an “enemy” to those of us who work with wool but also, I discovered, to those of us who work with computers. In 1945 Grace Murray Hopper, who was working on the relay-based Harvard Mark II computer, found the first computer bug, a moth, jamming the relays of her computer.   It was taped in the log-book alongside the official report, “First actual case of bug being found”. When I was on residency in Bangladesh I found other “enemies”. I lived in morbid fear of infected water and malarial mosquitoes. I worked these two pieces onto bamboo sieves that I bought in a local street market.

2002
machine knitted wool

1800 × 580 mm
installed at firstsite at the Minories Art Gallery, Colchester

Photography: Douglas Atfield

2002
machine knitted wool

2100 × 1900 mm

Photography: Douglas Atfield

2001
machine knitted wool

600 × 600 mm
Private Collection

This piece is a natural progression for me. For the past couple of years I have been working on a series of distorted body pieces.   These knitted “jumpers” have a sleeve instead of a neck, a spare torso projecting from the stomach, four shoulders with four sleeves and sealed cuffs for missing hands. The series culminates in two full bodies joined at the head. A piece which two people can enter but which otherwise lies or hangs like an empty skin.   My research has been around the human body, medicine, disability and disfigurement, the freak show, taxidermy, mummies, religious iconography and other “curiosities”. I find the medium of knitted textiles a powerful tool for expression and communication because of the cultural preconceptions surrounding the area. It is a “friendly” medium, which can be used to engage your audience with a subject, which might otherwise cause them to turn away.

In “Billy Wool” I tackle the head with features. A piece, which presents more technical challenges than any of my previous work. The whole piece is knitted on a domestic knitting machine with many of the stitches being moved around and worked by hand. The final piece is more of a skin than a balaclava. When it came off the machine and lay on the ironing board it resembled a mummified body. In particular Lindow Man, who has become known as “Pete Marsh”, hence its’ title, “Billy Wool”.

(Written statement for Ikons of Identity, a Craftspace touring exhibition 2001 – 2002)