Land Lines

The Southend City Sourcebook, Chapter 4.

The Southend City Sourcebook is an ongoing project exploring the overlooked quirks of our local architecture. Slowly embroidered hand stitched artworks are presented as the long lost illustrations of an imagined, rediscovered book.

This fourth chapter of the project is a study and celebration of the ignorable sculptures populating the heart of the British landscape. Telegraph poles stand as silent sentinels, mirroring the trees that surround them and made them.

These totems to technology, overlooked in the hustle and bustle of daily life, share an intrinsic connection with the natural world, stretching skyward, branches reaching out like sinews, stringing us together like stitches flying between us, connecting our homes. A reminder that we’re not yet as wireless as we think we are.

Telegraph poles, rooted in the ground, carry the lifeblood of connectivity and communication, transmitting voices, data, and power. They are the unsung heroes of our environment, facilitating the flow of information that keeps society functioning.

Each pole stands as a handmade, unique public sculpture - a testament to human ingenuity. Crafted from timber, each pole doesn’t just carry information, but the history of the forest it came from. Patinaed, weathered surfaces, marked by the passage of time, tell stories of resilience, adaptation, survival.

Taking some of my work out of the embroidery hoop this year, I’ve also continued to explore the themes of grief and communication, seen in the work I installed at the Clifftown Telephone Museum in 2023. Inspired by childhood memories of souvenir models of monuments and landmarks, my model telegraph poles are unique, limited-edition hand-crafted collectibles made from clay and miniaturist materials. In a continuation from the ‘we got cut off’ motif used at the Westcliff phonebooth, which invited visitors to leave a voicemail for someone they could no longer speak to, the recurring ‘I was just about to call you’ line used in this work is something my family are constantly saying to each other on the phone.

Land Lines is a study and celebration of these silent sentinels, and the forests they’ve replanted around us. Take some time to reflect on the beauty and significance of these imposing but easily ignored wooden wonders of our landscape. My new collection of unique, hand stitched embroidered studies will be on display in the window at venue number 21 in the art trail (Dressmaker Fabrics), alongside an installation inspired by scientific slides, with fabric 'specimens' displayed like microscope transparencies.

I’m thrilled to be back at Dressmaker Fabrics for this year's Leigh Art Trail. I’ve been a customer of theirs since before I even started embroidery - The Dressmaker even made my wedding dress. I’ll be there in person on Saturday 5th and 12th July, so please stop by to say hello.

Event details and opening times on the Leigh Art Trail website.

Follow me on instagram to stay up to date and see previews of my work.