Art in Liverpool: Re-View Textiles Bed-In

Liverpool re-views its dreams for peace with textiles 

From the Archives: Post originally written by Amanda Jones for Beat City Images Blog in 2010

Beat City Images (Amanda Jones and Emma Gilmour) teamed up with Re-View Textiles last week for an interactive performance artwork at the Bluecoat Bed-In. There was a lot of fabrics, chats, stitching and tea-drinking that culminated in a fantastic and diverse wall hanging. 

People from all walks of life came to share their dreams of peace for the future by writing their message on a fabric letter that was then stitched onto a larger bed-sheet to create the dreamscape wall hanging. The letters spelt out the words PEACE and DREAM with every message written different from the next. One member, Susan read a ‘bed-time story’ while we all sewed, which made the atmosphere creative and relaxed. 

“Re-view textiles is a group of creative people interested in textiles and living in the North West. Some of us have our own practice and are artists, designers, makers…We meet every two months very informally at the Bluecoat to exchange ideas and develop opportunities. We want to re-view the image that people might have of textiles.” Christine Toh, of Re-View Textiles. 

I recorded the event and am now editing the footage together to create a DVD as a memory for all those who took part and for those who couldn’t make it on the day. Emma also photographed the Bed-In with three different cameras! Emma was very busy that day as she also went to photograph the student protest in Liverpool city centre, and is now working on combining  the two events in a photographic project on love and war, so keep an eye out for that! 

The Bluecoat had a webcam running throughout the day that streamed footage of the Bed-In over the internet. It can also be watched back at http://www.livestream.com/thebluecoat/video?clipId=pla_5ab713fa-d01c-4b26-be56-52ba73193107 – I seemed to appear on the camera a lot, while Emma managed to hide from it. 

It was lovely to see such a diverse group of women working together on the fabrication of the hanging.  The wishes and dreams for a better world included peaceful energy, end of war and respect for troops that died fighting wars they didn’t believe in, as well as simple dreams for peaceful weekends without work! My message was for peace and respect for all life including animals and humans of all shapes and sizes. 

The hanging will be on display in the Bluecoat on Thursday 9th December along with other works created by participants of the Bed-In. If you can get down to the Bluecoat in the day time you can see all the wonderful pieces and get involved in dismantling the Bed, which is going to be recycled. 

“The Bed-In was an opportunity for our groups to raise our voice and join others in a message for peace.” Christine Toh. 

Words by Amanda Jones, photography by Emma Gilmour.