In Storytelling, nature and imagination meet at the heart of a great tree. Its roots reach deep into the earth and its branches stretch to the sky, holding a safe space for stories to unfold. Around it, animals from many places gather, representing the diversity and unity of all living beings. At the centre sits Homey, a nomadic dome home who becomes both storyteller and guardian of memory. I named him Home to remind him and myself that home is something we carry within, even after experiences of control, dislocation, or erasure.
Storytelling is rooted in my experience of living under oppression, silencing, manipulation, and control—where what I was allowed to say, remember, or feel was constantly rewritten, denied, or twisted. As I learned about colonial histories, I recognised a painful echo: the same patterns of silencing, gaslighting, and rewriting used in my own life are the tools colonial systems have used to dominate cultures and erase First Nations and marginalised voices. This work speaks to the ways colonial power has controlled, censored, and forbidden stories. Storytelling is not just entertainment; it is law, memory, identity, and connection. When stories are cut off, people are cut off from themselves, their ancestors, their communities and their land.
Homey is a metaphor for an inner place that cannot be fully colonised or controlled. Under the protection of the tree, no one owns the story, no one edits the truth to maintain power. Instead, each voice adds another thread to a larger, shared narrative. The animals represent diverse voices, identities, and histories coming together in safety—a space where storytelling is no longer forbidden, but welcomed, protected, and celebrated.
Storytelling is both an act of resistance and an act of care. By making this work, I refuse the narrative that was imposed on me and stand in solidarity with all those whose voices have been controlled or erased. I invite viewers to sit with Homey and the animals, to really listen, listen for what is half-said or almost-lost, and to recognise that reclaiming our own stories—especially those that were once silenced—is a courageous step towards healing, accountability, and a more honest future.
In Storytelling, textiles are both material and meaning. The work is a tapestry made with up-cycled leftover fabrics, alongside mostly natural materials such as cotton fabrics and threads, naturally dyed bamboo yarn, merino wool felt, and eco-friendly textile ink. Rather than beginning only from new materials, I often work with what remains: fragments, offcuts, overlooked pieces. This choice echoes the work’s concern with voices that were silenced or half-heard, making the tapestry itself an act of recovery—gathering fragments and giving them a second life.The techniques extend this idea. The patchwork rim joins separate pieces into a coherent whole, mirroring how diverse voices come together in safety under the great tree. Hand quilting layers and binds these pieces, like memory held together over time. Hand embroidery adds slow, careful detail, reflecting the act of listening closely to what is half-said or almost-lost. Hand painting on textile brings colour and expression directly into the cloth, each mark becoming a voice that asserts itself.
Together, these processes privilege slowness, care, and the hand-made, standing against the speed, coercion, and erasure of colonial control. The natural and eco-friendly materials connect the tapestry to the earth the great tree stands in, offering an alternative to extractive ways of making and taking. Merino wool felt, cotton, and bamboo yarn bring warmth and softness, reflecting the shelter that Homey, the dome home, represents. Through textiles, the work makes its central claim tangible: storytelling is stitched and pieced together, never owned. Reclaiming silenced voices becomes an act of stitching them back into a shared, living fabric.
Title: Storytelling
Medium: mixed media tapestry/textile art | materials: leftover, up-cycled cotton fabric, undyed cotton wadding, eco friendly textile ink, cotton thread, natural dyed bamboo yarn, merino wool felt & acrylic yarn
Techniques: hand painting, hand embroidery, hand quilting, patchwork & appliqué
Size: 201 cm x 152 cm
Production date: September 2022 till March 2026
“Creating an intricate and time consuming work such as this one, comprised of textile pieces put together mindfully, ink painted by hand and a gazillion small threads that passed through my fingers, is also my silent protest against the fast paced, patience deprived, accelerated consumption culture that we live in”.
Leftover Universe 