Tina Crawford

2018

Embroidered shrunk jumper on IV stand. Dead to Me is a sculpture about endometriosis and my hysterectomy.

The embroidered text reads “My husband put this jumper in the wrong wash, it shrank. No use to anyone, I really liked it but as a comfy jumper it is dead to me much like my girlie pieces that continue to fail and burden me. I now prepare to say farewell to what makes me female, they have caused the most pain but have produced the most joy. 1972-2018”

This piece was a requiem to my womb, I had a total hysterectomy, double salpingectomy and double oophorectomy, the surgeon tried to remove my cervix but couldn’t.

Before the surgery I wondered if it would make me feel less of a woman, it didn’t but it made me question where gender comes from and the answer is your brain. The piece started off about my pain and endometriosis and infertility but ended up in being so much more.

Shrunk jumper, threads, drip stand (height is set at 4’10 which is the artists height)

2018

The quilt itself is made up of used crisp and chocolate wrappers, stitched and free embroidered. Wadded with a satin dimpled reverse.

“The piece is about my struggle with bulimia when I was younger”

1950s child’s bed frame, quilt

Connected by a Thread 2020

2m x 2m

my response to the first lockdown during the covid pandemic started in March 2020. With engagement from social media I responded to lockdown moments, each drawing is one continuous thread - in isolation were we’re all connected. Over 100 stories were stitched, the fabric was off cuts from NHS scrubs.

The text on the border (made from yellow dusters) reads:

“On March 23, 2020 the UK went into lockdown everyone in isolation and yet somehow I felt more connected than ever thanks to Twitter (which was nice at the time) Facebook Instagram I even went on the tickytocky social media was kind for a month”

“The virus there is no virus is gone mate! the government made it up” Croydon June 2020

“stay home, protect the NHS save lives” 2nd of August 2020 fourth six thousand two hundred and one deaths - 46201

This piece of work embodies the months of pandemic isolation, the digital connections we made and reconnecting of ourselves

Science Museum Collection

2018

110 x 60cm

free embroidery, applique piece with lines of text hidden - which are from Donald Trumps Twitter from January 2018:

“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

and

“We need the Wall for the safety and security of our country. We need the Wall to help stop the massive inflow of drugs from Mexico, now rated the number one most dangerous country in the world. If there is no Wall, there is no Deal!”

The 2020 response to Bird Crap, the silver lining. The piece has Tweets from Donald Trump after his defeat for the presidency- “I won this election, by a lot” has been embroidered over and over.

High Water Rising 2022

170cm x 200cm

Remnant scraps from NHS scrubs and thread.

This piece is almost set like scales, the sewn on one side and the pile of scraps the other. As a maker, this was made about mental health it’s about the repair from damage and how there is always more so how are you fully repaired? We are all work in progress.

Each piece of scrap fabric was free embroidered to the next but not planned like patchwork, randomly picked and sewn at the machine not pinned before. It was as much about the process as the end piece.

NHS scrub remnants, thread.

Gilding the Lily

2023

Lilys childhood clothes.

Imperial Measures

2023

Imperial typewriter from the 1960s, organdy fabric

My mother came from Calcutta, the reason why we are now in England is because of the typewriter. She was a secretary but only English speaking she saw a newspaper advert that said typewriters were to be made in Hindi and she knew she’d be out of a job. She saw the call out for secretary’s needed in the UK and my family came over in the late 60s when she secured a job.

A House Made of Straw

2023

Tea towels, old written postcards

The idea of bringing the collage of tea towel souvenirs with correspondence from trips away to bring you a work about a post Brexit fragile Britain. The postcards are not stuck down, so they will fall from their house I want the viewer to feel the same tension I do when I’m looking out on the coast and I feel trapped on this island.

2019

Installation as part of my residency and exhibition, What a Waste at the Museum of Croydon.

Combining bulimia with the idea of waste/waist. 6 months of my waste plastic fused and sewn into corsets producing a powerful and thought provoking piece.

An Unnatural History, 2016 Solo Exhibition

Rise Gallery

Gallery curated exhibition comprising of 28 pieces, sculpture and wall hanging.

Soft sculpture 2018, Unrecyclable plastics stitched to make a large toy brick stuffed with the same and fake money

Jibberish

Embroidery piece illustrating my dyslexia.

Tits Up 2020

Embroidery on bra. Available as a print from https://leydengallery.com/collections/buy-art/products/tits-up

Boxed dolls of Harriet the bearded lady, Lydia the tattooed lady and Lupe the wolf boy.

Helpless 2021

70cm x 70cm

thread and oil on velvet

Legend and my first inspiration- Jean Paul Gaultier

Grayson Perry

The text on the bottom of the dress is a quote from the artist:

“The difference between an amateur and professional artist is interesting. A professional is someone who got lucky and found an audience willing to pay for their work”

Legendary photographer Martin Parr

Singer and Kitchen Disco Queen, Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Artist Tracey Emin

Invited to the rehearsals of ZooCos Perfect Show For Rachel to create a response to the theatre show before it’s limited run at the Barbican Centre.
The show is an inventive semi improvised (all the components are vigorously rehearsed but Rachel is in charge of what the audience see so each time no one knows what you’ll get!) performance for one person - that one person is Rachel, she’s a Kylie loving young woman with learning disabilities and a great sense of humour! The idea came from Flo who happens to be Rachel’s sister and watching the rehearsal made me see what the show is about - sisterly love. Hilarious, touching and very emotional.
November 2022