Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

This exhibition is co-curated by Amanda Pinatih of Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam as well as Wells Fray-Smith and Lotte Johnson of the Barbican, London.

The exhibition is on show at the Stedelijk from 14 September 2024 to 5 January 2025.

Using textiles, fibre and thread, over 40 international artists challenge power structures and reimagine the world in this major group exhibition.

Textiles cover and protect us, engage our senses, trigger our memories, represent our beliefs, hold our stories. We are wrapped in cloth when we’re born and enshrouded in it when we die. As an artistic medium, textiles can speak to the joys and pains of being human, as well as the larger structures and systems that shape our world.

In this major group exhibition, the Stedelijk showcases over 40 international, intergenerational artists use textiles to communicate vital ideas about power, resistance and survival. From intimate hand-crafted pieces to monumental sculptural installations, these works offer narratives of violence, imperialism and exclusion alongside stories of resilience, love and hope.