You only need to glance at Textiles x Art: How Textiles Are Shaping Contemporary Art to see that it’s special. The cover is designed to look like a woven textile, and the motif continues across the book’s printed edges. Authors Ramona Barry and Beck Jobson have compellingly assembled 44 contemporary textile artists whose work expands the line between craft and fine art. The selection of artists is global in scope, but because Barry and Jobson are based in Melbourne, they include a lot of Australians. That’s not a limitation—instead, their regional expertise means the book offers a depth that readers may not otherwise have access to. Australian artist Jahnne Pasco-White uses natural dyes including hibiscus, olive and rosemary, along with earth pigments and beeswax crayons, to create sprawling assemblages. Ghanaian artist Kwaku Yaro works from the opposite end of the material spectrum, incorporating woven plastic mats, jute sacks and other culturally loaded materials. “The drive of the African individual to create something out of nothing,” Yaro says in an accompanying interview, “to be, to live, and evolve beyond limitations set by society propels my passion to create art.” English artist Mark Corfield-Moore draws on his British-Thai identity with a hybrid process that combines ikat-style weaving and hand-painted dyes. The resulting works feel uncannily untethered from time and place: In “Surprise! Surgery!” (2024), the internal cavity of a tooth sprouts an umbrella out of its top, the words “Bangkok rush hour” emblazoned above in capital letters. An enlarged detail reveals that the image’s glitchy distortions are meticulously woven and stitched together. With 325 illustrations, Textiles x Art is a fine introduction to contemporary artists pushing the boundaries of textile-based art, and will be especially relevant to readers interested in global affairs and migration.
