In:Site, Craft-Design-Make



Artist: Rehana Adams-Bell

Two women, dressed all in white, stand with their backs to us, and their arms around each other’s backs. The backs of their jackets have been decorated with colourful portraits of Black women’s faces, with their hair embroidered on.

All garments featured designed by @mkkalla_brand

BA Textiles 
Birmingham City University 

Rehana is a textile artist.

Rehana’s practice explores Black identity and questions society’s ideologies around Black beauty. Working with imagery, symbolism, motifs and artefacts that connect to Black history, Rehana unpicks and interrogates representations of Black beauty by placing her work within the context of the contemporary fashion industry. Focussing on colour, pattern and texture, she combines human and animal forms within textured print, mark-making and illustrative compositions. Her pieces celebrate Black beauty and foreground the physical and emotional strength of the Black community.

Find out more

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adamsrehana.wixsite.com

In:Site 2024

Rehana was one of 14 artists selected to produce a participatory, drop-in workshop for a public audience at In:Site 2024. Exploring the theme of care, their workshop developed and incorporated the ideas, techniques, approaches and materials used in their own practice.

Textile artist Rehana Adams-Bell at her workshop table, looking at the felting wool.

Photograph by Hayley Salter

For her workshop project, Rehana shared her experience of working with the felting technique to create tactile artworks. Inviting people to create their own felted textile piece, Rehana demonstrated a range of different approaches, and created a space for people to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of working with felt.

Close up of hands arranging felting wool in a shape. Also on the piece of fabric are a felted apple, lemon, and orange.
Close up of hands using a felting needle to felt a flower into a piece of felt, above a polystyrene felting sponge.
Close up of hands holding up a piece of beige felt decorated with red and yellow felted flowers.
Two people's hands felting. One is using needle to push red, yellow, blue, and green pieces of felting wool in an abstract pattern onto a dark brown piece of felt. The other is felting the wool into the shape of a flower.

Photographs by Hayley Salter


In:Site playlist


Where Next?

Artist: Rebecca Leek

Artist showcase.

A close-up section of a larger piece, made up of overlaid abstract shapes in red, blue, and yellow. This is a mixed media piece, comprised of print, embroidery, stitchwork and painting.

Artist: Lucy Ralph

Artist showcase.

A visual and textual informational poster of a young woman wearing a white polo shirt and blue jeans, both of which have been fixed by visible repair through patchworks of red, blue and white fabric scraps. Overlaid onto this photo are the phrases ‘PATCH IT’, ‘Dads old jeans’ and ‘Old school polo’.

Artist: Lola Awolowo

Artist showcase.

A painted, and embroidered portrait of a blue-eyed Black woman, on a background of collaged book pages. Her face is circular and tilted and she has short black hair. Her necklace and earrings are beads embroidered onto the piece’s surface. Her outline has been stitched in yellow thread.

Artist: Katy Gillam-Hull

Artist showcase.

A hand holding a green glass bead between the thumb and forefinger in front of a blurred house and tree.


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