The Royal School of Needlework Degree Students have had the exciting opportunity to collaborate with internationally renowned artist, Ruben Montini.

Ruben’s latest project is a performative installation, ‘Altarpieces’, which features a series of textile pieces bringing together voices of LGBTQIA+ communities.  These powerful pieces of art embrace personal stories and expose homotransphobic phrases that the LGBTQIA+ communities have suffered. The project illustrates the power of speech through textiles, building awareness of voices from around the world including the UK, Poland, Italy, Iran, Mexico and Brazil. Every word has an added personal vulnerability with letters cut from pieces from the individual’s own clothing which have been witness to the discrimination suffered.

RSN Degree Students have hand embroidered and appliquéd each letter onto the textile composition, layering fabric and stitch onto compositional formats defined by Montini.  The fabric and stitch echo the brush marks of a painting, to create the signature identity of the artist’s work.

Royal School of Needlework’s Degree Students also collaborated on Montini’s ‘This Anonymity is Subversive’ embroidery project in 2017. The piece showcased a contemporary embroidery journey through Europe, highlighting the connection and union through stitch, without borders.

Find out more about the Royal School of Needlework Degree Course here

Sign up here to attend the next Degree Open Day