New exhibition finds the beauty in everyday objects

Broken//Makeshift is an exhibition that celebrates contemporary craft by finding the beauty in everyday objects. It explores how our emotional attachment to them can survive a break, fracture or tear. The show and surrounding programme highlight modern and historic methods of mending, inviting a conversation about how our relationship to things has changed since the popularisation of mass-production and the recent resurgence of upcycling, repurposing and repair.

Sunny Banks Mills’ arts director Anna Turzynski said: “ Broken//Makeshift is an exhibition about objects and how our relationships to them shift and change over time. I wanted people to question the life cycle of things especially at this time of year where gift buying is at the forefront of our minds.

The pieces in this exhibition ask us to reconsider endings, and welcome new beginnings; a tear in a jumper or a crack in a plate doesn't have to mean the end but can be an opportunity to mindfully mend and repair and make it more precious than before.

She continued: contemporary craft is an amazing vehicle for storytelling and there are lots of playful moments in this exhibition that do just that, like Grace Clifford's chocolate horses or Abdulrazaq Awofeso’s wooden handbag. I hope that people will leave the exhibition inspired by the skill and craftsmanship on show, and with a renewed desire to fix, mend and breathe new life into their objects and themselves.”

The exhibition features work by acclaimed and emerging artists including Abdulrazaq Awofeso, Amelia Frances Wood, Bridget Harvey, David Fox & Liz O’Connell, Grace Clifford, Isabel Fletcher, Isobel Jane Kimberley, Jo Pond, Megan Preston-Davies, Molly Rooke, Polite Rebellion, Rachel Anzalone, Rosie Vohra, Zoë Hillyard and Zoe Phillips along with a further 18 artists represented in the exhibition’s accompanying Zine Library.

Some of the exhibiting artists have a lived experience of disability or have self-identified with the theme with work that explores the idea of the maker themselves being ‘broken,’ in a bid to further the dialogue around visibility of disability in contemporary craft.

Ellie Harrison, artistic director of Polite Rebellion commented: “I’m delighted to be showing Iconic Fatigue as part of Broken//Makeshift at Sunny Bank Mills which has such a rich history of textile production. We hope that Iconic Fatigue can act as a small but public act of repair dedicated to the 250,000 people living with Chronic Fatigue in the UK and the thousands more for whom fatigue is an overlooked symptom of other conditions. We want Polite Rebellion’s work to be bold, beautiful and useful and we can’t wait to share it with the people of Yorkshire and beyond. It is an honour to be part of such a beautifully curated show alongside amazing artists working in different mediums.”

Exhibiting artists David Fox and Liz O'Connell’s emerging work is a collaboration of crafts that are under threat and facing an uncertain future, particularly the funding and investment in textile and glass skills. They said: “We are artists who met at Sunny Bank Mills Museum & Archive whilst researching independently and have found its archive materials and the Mills’ support invaluable to the development of our work and relationship as artists. We are thrilled to be part of the Broken//Makeshift exhibition showcasing our collaboration which combines glass making and textile weaving. We engage in ideas about heritage and craft skills and our relationship to textiles and the making processes. Sunny Bank Mills is fantastic at supporting artists and makers and it's a real joy and a privilege to be part of the exhibition.”

Broken//Makeshift is open in the Gallery, Sandsgate Building, Sunny Bank Mills, Farsley, LS28 5UJ, Tuesday- Sunday 10am-4pm until 24th December. Closed on Mondays. FREE ENTRY.