Travelling Sculpture by Alice Burnhope, with the Lewisham Community Now on Display at Manor House Gardens, Lewisham
We invite you to experience Crafting Connections (2025), a travelling textile sculpture created by artist Alice Burnhope in collaboration with members of the Lewisham community. Unveiled during the Echoes of Migration Summit at the RSA and now returning to Lewisham, the sculpture celebrates the unique stories, cultural heritage, and shared experiences of those who call this place home.
Created through a series of workshops held in September 2025 at Manor House Gardens, Crafting Connections explores the central question:
What connects you to this land and to each other?
About the Workshops: Crafting, Learning, and Community
In September 2025, Alice Burnhope led two creative workshop series titled Crafting Connections, focusing on natural dyes and embroidery as tools for storytelling and connection.
Natural Dye Workshops
Participants created artworks using fabric and natural dye inks, inspired by materials gathered from the surrounding park landscape. Together, they co-created a large collaborative sheet of dyed textiles, forming a mural-like representation of individual and collective ties to Lewisham.
Embroidery Workshops
Attendees learned practical stitching and appliqué techniques, gaining creative skills that can be used in future sewing or artistic projects. Each participant created a personal embroidered artwork that reflected their relationship with the local area.
One participant reflected:
“Community projects that break down stigmas on issues which should not be issues are important. Teaching my daughter the value of community and respect of different cultures and traditions to become a rounded, empathetic, and tolerant member of society.”
Another participant shared that they took from the workshop:
“Education. Clarity against misinformation and narrow narratives.”
These individual textile pieces now form the foundation of the final sculpture.
About the Sculpture
The final artwork, created and composed by Alice Burnhope, is a human-sized textile sculpture made from the individual artworks produced by workshop participants. Each stitched piece holds a personal memory or meaning. When combined, they form a single shared artwork that reflects the multicultural life, layered identities, and interconnected stories of Lewisham.
The sculpture will travel to various public spaces over the next three years. Its journey began at the RSA in London. It now returns to Manor House Gardens, where the community who created it can see their work gathered and uplifted.
Visit the Sculpture
Location: Manor House Gardens, 34 Old Rd, London SE13 5SY
Now on Display
Free Entry
Everyone is welcome. Whether you contributed to the workshops or are encountering the project for the first time, this is an invitation to pause, reflect, and connect.
Echoes of Migration Public Art Trail in Manor House Gardens
After viewing Crafting Connections, explore the Echoes of Migration artworks nearby.
Begin by the lake with To Move is to Bloom (2025) by Vladimir Lalić, a sculpture inspired by the dragonfly and themes of transformation, growth, and renewal.
Continue toward Pistachios in the Park café to see La Mesa Del Pueblo (The People’s Table) (2025) by Ryan Hawaii. This vivid textile installation celebrates local heroes, small businesses, and the lives and legacies of Lewisham’s migrant communities.
These artworks form part of a wider creative journey about belonging, movement, and shared identity.
Learn more about Echoes of Migration at:
https://artvoyagebiennial.org.uk/echoes-of-migration/
Thank You to the Community
Thank you to everyone who took part in the Crafting Connections workshops.
Your hands shaped this sculpture.
Your stories are sewn into its fabric.
Your voices give it meaning.
We welcome you back to see the work you helped bring into the world.
Join us!
Your donation to Echoes of Migration, is not just supporting a project – you’re joining a movement that celebrates migrant communities, empowers artists, and transforms public spaces into living places of memory, creativity, and pride.
Together, we can make sure every story is seen, heard, and valued!