This tapestry was inspired by the medieval tapestries I saw during my travels as a Winston Churchill Fellow and the medieval frescos I saw in Bulgaria. Many I saw depicted various Marys weeping over Christ but it occurred to me one would not be caught weeping in front of the murderers of one’s loved one, but as an accuser one would look back with dignity and a spine of oak. The idea had a personal resonance with me and this is the result, I as the weaver, and also a Mary (my middle name) gets to look out through them. The medieval images are known as the Lamentation of Christ, and I have called this The Lamentation as a nod to the original source.
This tapestry was inspired by the medieval tapestries I saw during my travels as a Winston Churchill Fellow and the medieval frescos I saw in Bulgaria. Many I saw depicted various Marys weeping over Christ but it occurred to me one would not be caught weeping in front of the murderers of one’s loved one, but as an accuser one would look back with dignity and a spine of oak. The idea had a personal resonance with me and this is the result, I as the weaver, and also a Mary (my middle name) gets to look out through them. The medieval images are known as the Lamentation of Christ, and I have called this The Lamentation as a nod to the original source.
This tapestry was inspired by the medieval tapestries I saw during my travels as a Winston Churchill Fellow and the medieval frescos I saw in Bulgaria. Many I saw depicted various Marys weeping over Christ but it occurred to me one would not be caught weeping in front of the murderers of one’s loved one, but as an accuser one would look back with dignity and a spine of oak. The idea had a personal resonance with me and this is the result, I as the weaver, and also a Mary (my middle name) gets to look out through them. The medieval images are known as the Lamentation of Christ, and I have called this The Lamentation as a nod to the original source.
Chrissie Freeth
Courage Calls
2024
Cotton warp, hand-dyed woollen weft
2.56m x 1.78m
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One night in 1913 a group of suffragettes headed to Chelllow Dene, the reservoir that served the mill town of Bradford. They poured into the water fabric dye and turned it purple, the colour of the suffragettes. This story was highlighted by the renowned artist and author Claire Wellesley-Smith during her HLF funded project looking at the textile history of Bradford. I've always loved the story, the night time caper, the defiance, the incessant willingness to fight even in the face of constant obstacles. And the fact that they used something so specific to the city to do it.
In this tapestry they are dumping into the water flowers made purple by the blood of Saint Agatha on the right. I love early female saints and martyrs, the frequent subjects of early tapestries. Whatever one’s belief in Christianity, these were young girls and women willing to stand up to the patriarchy, to expectations, to demands, even in the face of the often horrifying consequences. Agatha refused the advances of a Roman prefect and was imprisoned and tortured and eventually her breasts were removed.
The story of Agatha and of the anonymous suffragettes span a millennium and a half but the issues are the same. It is the chain of courage that echoes through the generation of women that this tapestry seeks to explore.
Courage Calls took around 3000 hours to weave.