Rachel Thomas

OK, so not everyone likes my quilts as they are not what you might normally expect to see and are sometimes quite challenging, but in my small studio tucked away in the middle of a bustling town, I try to pour my heart and soul into what I do – art quilts that hopefully speak volumes, in this case about a history often overlooked. At the moment I’m trying to stitch together quilts that celebrate the experiences of Windrush elders who journeyed to the UK in the mid century and onwards.

There will be 5 in the series at the exhibition at Leamington Art Gallery in Jan 2025. The original inspiration was a collection of 3 quilts in the gallery archives, detailing experiences of life before and after Windrush. One of these quilts will hang alongside mine. As part of my reasearch I was given a link to a video that shows the elders and their families talking about their experiences of life in the UK and the changes they had to make, and their problems adapting to us and us to them. The words on the quilts are transcribed from this video. I visited some them at a local church community lunch and chatted, eat, and took photos. Rachel took some persuading to let me do a piece on her, but she eventually let me loose!

At the heart of this first quilt, Rachel’s quilt, sits a powerful image: an elderly woman, her weathered hands resting gently on her stick and in her lap. Beside her, a table adorned with a quintessentially British meal – fish and chips, a symbol of familiarity and adaptation in a new land.

But it’s not just the visual elements that tell the story. Behind the central figure, I’ve written the spoken words of Rachel, trying to capture her voice against the heavily free machine stitched vibrant cloth background. Each stitch enfolds these fragments of history, hopefully weaving together a narrative of resilience, courage, and perseverance. But it’s odd because that’s not all that’s going on.

As you travel across the quilt, you might wonder why Rachel’s face and hands are painted in rich acrylics, trying to capture detail in every line and crease, firmly with us, but her clothing begins to fade away into the background. It’s a deliberate choice by me – a metaphor for the gradual erasure of identity and culture faced by many immigrants as they assimilate into a new society.

Through these quilts I’m hoping to preserve these stories, to ensure that the experiences of the Windrush generation are not forgotten or overshadowed. Each stitch is a testament to their struggles and triumphs, a reminder of the indomitable spirit that carried them across oceans and into uncertain futures.

I guess for me these quilts are more than just a piece of fabric – they’re a living tribute, a history that demands to be recorded and remembered. I’m trying for works of art that speak volumes without ever uttering a word.