Kath Lovett

Immersive textile sculpture exploring environmental concerns and inequality, embodying concerns for our future oceans and the place of women in our culture. The work encompases rescued discarded wipes from a wet-wipes factory and used smocking techniques to pleat them into long thin, repetitive strips in a slow meditative process. These are then naturally dyed with waste and embroidered with British flowers, again florist rejects. The flower embroidery implies fertility and pollination and also the possibilities which come from being in an undefinable state. Many flowers are hermaphrodites and although are symbols of excessive femininity, they are actually harder to categorise, and vastly more complex.

These hanging ambiguous little sculptures are grouped together to suggest uncanny underwater creatures, some are hung in water and others are strapped to wire and all are oddly alive and beautiful, reminding us that the super disposal fabric of the wipe is actually polyester and will live with us for 200 years. The work questions our use of this fabric for wipes and also feminist concerns around cleanliness and domestic labour.