‘Extra Padding’ is the third iteration of an ongoing project exploring quilting and textile art. Here, the threads of the quietly contemplative, the technically attentive, and the mysterious weave together with the radical, the interpersonal, and the exploratory.

Quilting may call to mind comfort, cosiness, and swaddled safety, but for generations it has also been a vehicle for political resistance, radical organising, and community building. Rowdy humour and joyful collaboration are embedded in these works, sitting alongside thread and fabric as essential materials in their own right, bringing human emotion and physicality to the fore.

The predominant use of second-hand textiles marks these pieces as endpoints in an unfathomably complex system of manufacturing and labour. Yet through them, artists can metaphorically repair and refashion their world. The works invite audiences to appreciate a myriad of techniques and subjects, coming together to form a grotto of textural encounters and thoughtful expression.

In this exhibition, quilting becomes a kind of armour: forged from community ties, the comfort of shared joy, and the enrichment of creative work.