Gallery 2
Anne Kelly: Well Travelled
Anne Kelly is, quite literally, well travelled. Before the pandemic she travelled all over the world: to teach, exhibit, to see family and for play. Her textile work has long been characterised by travel: travel in the sense of trains, boats and planes. But also travel in the sense of personal journeys over time and through history. When she can travel, Anne derives immense joy and inspiration from new places and new people. She keeps many sketchbooks, wherein she collects bits and pieces, images and ideas. But when making her work she likes to start with a piece of fabric – even a scrap – and build on that.
Anne is a collector (if not a hoarder) of textile related flotsam and jetsam. But she also collects memories; of places she has visited in person, of course. But also places and scenes she has visited in exhibitions, in books and films. Anne’s work reminds us that the mind keeps travelling, regardless of what our bodies are doing. In Well Travelled she shows us so many ways of celebrating her and our memories of travel, past and future. It is an intricate, rich and beautiful journey celebrating textiles, travelling, memories and making.
Curator: Jane Audas
Photography: Rachel Whiting