Tapestry of Voices
Art Voyage Biennial CIC is proud to present Tapestry of Voices, a large-scale community arts programme, workshop series and exhibition that amplifies disadvantaged women’s voices, youth-based narratives and intergenerational histories. Through textiles, the project brings to light unheard stories of memory, care, and resilience shared across generations.
Through workshops, mentorship, and a public exhibition, the project explores textiles as living archives, holding stories of memory, care, resilience, and imagined futures. By bringing together community participants and professional artists, Tapestry of Voices creates space for shared making, reflection, and connection across cultures and generations.
Delivered both in person and online, the programme is rooted in long-term creative development through partnerships with underrepresented women and young people, working closely with women’s centres and youth organisations.
Tapestry of Voices invites marginalised groups to experience how fabric can carry voices beyond words. Running from April to July 2026, the workshop programme will engage 150 participants across Lewisham, Guildford and Wood Green. The final exhibition will showcase newly created community artworks alongside works by international artists, placing local voices within a global contemporary context.
The programme culminates in a free public exhibition during July 2026, showcasing community-created textile works alongside invited artists, accompanied by a sound installation of recorded stories.
Phase 1: Free Textile Skills Courses
April – May 2026
Three intensive, in-person textile courses focused on developing practical and transferable skills in felted forms, fibre manipulation, weaving with recycled materials, tapestry techniques, soft sculpture and hand-stitching.
This phase positions textiles as both a skilled discipline and a contemporary storytelling practice.
Phase 2: Mentoring and Workplace Experience
May – June 2026
Participants progress into a month of online mentoring, developing curatorial literacy, portfolio readiness and sector awareness.
Following which participants take part in a one-month workplace experience, gaining hands-on experience in exhibition planning, artwork handling and studio support alongside Art Voyage’s curatorial team and lead artists.
Phase 3: Public Exhibition and Legacy
July – August 2026
The programme culminates in a three-week public exhibition, presenting new work by selected early-career artists alongside the lead facilitators andinvited migrant women artists.
Public workshops, talks and tours expand access and engagement, while a digital archive and final stakeholder roundtable ensure learning is shared and sustained.
Our Focus:
Disadvantaged and migrant women
We focus on women who have experienced social, economic, or cultural marginalisation, including migrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking women. Many face systemic barriers to creative opportunities, feelings of displacement, and limited access to safe cultural spaces.
Through textile-based storytelling and mentorship, the programme provides creative expression, confidence-building, and pathways into the arts—centering their voices in a sector where they are often unheard.
Youth (ages 16–25) experiencing hardship
This includes young people facing challenges such as instability at home, mental health struggles, limited educational access, or belonging to communities under pressure. For many, creative opportunities are scarce.
The programme offers a supportive, skills-focused environment where young people can learn, create, and build community. By engaging them in hands-on making, collaborative storytelling, and professional experience, we support their wellbeing, identity formation, and access to future career pathways.
To ensure access and sustained progression, participants will receive online mentoring from professional artists, alongside intensive skills development. Beyond creative practice, they will build confidence, professional networks and real pathways into the creative industries. Through the Workplace Experience Programme, participants will take part in the full production of a contemporary textile exhibition, gaining hands-on, industry-level experience that directly supports employability and long-term sustainability.
Workshops
The programme selected three lead artists whose practices centre on textiles, identity and community engagement: Zethu Maseko, Sarah Waters and Paloma Tendero. Each artist developed a workshop proposal inspired by the themes that guide their work and by approaches that encourage community storytelling. These proposals shaped the structure of the sessions and support the programme’s two overarching themes: Women’s Voices and Intergenerational Histories and Imagining Tomorrow’s World.
Workshops combine practical textile processes with reflective discussions and wellbeing-centred activities, creating inclusive, supportive and trauma-informed environments. Participants will explore storytelling through making, sharing personal and collective narratives
Weaving New Life from Scraps with Zethu Maseko
A hands-on textile workshop where participants create woven wall-hangings using recycled fabric strips, echoing Zethu’s process of transforming discarded materials into meaningful tapestries.
The key objectives are to transform recycled materials into meaningful artworks, that reflect on heritage, memory, and future aspirations. To use art-making as a grounding, empowering tool and to support community cohesion and collective storytelling.
Stitching memory with Paloma Tendero
In this workshop, participants will learn how to hand stitch into paper and photographs. It will be an introduction to different stitches and techniques for using paper.
By the end of the workshop, each participant will have created a unique stitched artwork that blends memory, image, and material, while gaining confidence in alternative textile practices that bridge craft, storytelling, and contemporary art.
Felt memory pads with Sarah Waters
A felt-making workshop inspired by personal memories, with a strong focus on wellbeing to foster a sense of purpose through meaningful connections to both people and place.
The workshops draw on the ancient craft of felting to make hand held tactile 3D felt pods. A form of art therapy, alongside a realisation of the importance of forming positive approaches to life.
Workshop Facilitators
Each artist has developed a workshop proposal inspired by the themes that guide their personal work.
Award-winning multi-disciplinary artist and workshop facilitator, Zetha works across tapestry-making techniques including punch needle, embroidery, tufting, weaving and sewing. Her practive is grounded in hydrofeminist and ecofeminist approaches to land, body and archive.
Explores themes of genetic inheritance, illness, and their impact on identity and life’s timelines. Drawing on personal experience with genetic illness, Paloma investigates the complex interplay between past generations and the ways the influence and shape the present and the future.
Textile artist working in feltmaking that originates from her love of sheep. Using both traditional and innovative techniques she aims to show the diversity and qualities feltmaking can be taken to. Using British Wool, which lends itself to a variety of disciplines within the textile world.
Mentorship
Following the community workshops, participants will have access to free mentorship pathways designed to extend their artistic development and create long-term opportunities. These programmes recognise the diverse needs, capacities, and ambitions of participants, offering both open-access support and an intensive, selective track.
Each mentee will receive:
- Support through Q&A’s sessions with a lead mentor (professional artist or curator).
- Peer learning sessions once a week to share progress and feedback.
- Technical and creative guidance to help them develop new textile works for exhibition.
- Practical training in project management, budgeting, and exhibition preparation.
- Networking sessions with curators, galleries, and art professionals to support future opportunities.
- Visibility and promotion through Art Voyage’s digital channels and the final exhibition at The Film Shed.
Previous projects
Join us!
Your donation to Tapestry of Voices, is not just supporting a project – you’re joining a community movement that amplifies disadvantaged women’s voices, youth-based narratives and intergenerational histories. Your support helps bring to light unheard stories of memory, care, and resilience shared across generations.
Learn more about how to get involved here