In:Site, Craft-Design-Make



Artist: Ruth Petersen

Three forms made of latticed wires coated in white plaster. The wires have been manipulated so that each form is twisted, bent, and curved like a building under pressure. The ends of the wires stick out of the pieces.

Nexus

MA Contemporary Dialogues – Textiles
University Of Wales Trinity St. David

Ruth is a weaver & multidisciplinary artist.

Primarily a weaver, Ruth is currently investigating different processes and materials to create artworks that instigate a dialogue around social housing in the UK. Driven by her interests in urban utopias and the inevitability of their failure, her work highlights how economic priorities embed social injustice into the planning and construction of social housing. Her work seeks to situate the viewer inside these built environments, placing them within the cracks and faults of modern buildings. Emphasising the feelings experienced by those living on the edge of safety through 24-hour fire watch, unstable structures and black mould, her work illustrates the fragility of life in densely occupied buildings.

Find out more

ruth_petersen_

www.ruthpetersen.co.uk

Clockwise from top left: Study in handling 1; Utopia:Dystopia774; Utopia:Dystopia774; Questions

In:Site 2024

Ruth 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.

Weaver Ruth Petersen smiling, in conversation with a member of the public who is constructing a paper house to add to the city of paper houses behind them both.

Photograph by Hayley Salter

For her project, Home Thoughts, Ruth invited people to work with card and wire to contribute to a landscape of housing. Considering the details of what a home should be, Ruth’s piece highlighted the importance of what people want from the spaces and places they live in.

Close up of a pink paper house, adorned with multi-coloured gemstones around the door, window and roof; strengthened with gridded tape.
Close up of a black paper high-rise tower block, with red windows running down one side of it, and wire spirals made to look like TV aerials down the other. It is surrounded by other paper buildings.
Close up of hands folding a paper cut out into the shape of a house.
A close up of a pink paper house which has two blue shapes resembling dolphins on one wall, and cut outs of green paper resembling hands joined on the roof. On the roof, 'Dylan' and 'Ruth' have been written. The back wall has been decorated with drawings of flowers and grass.

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.


Instagram



We use cookies. By browsing our site you agree to our use of cookies, Find out more