Stella Whalley -

'woof woof' 23cm x 17cm

'spin' 20cm x 20cm

Detail 'Love fish'

Detail 'blonde and bound'

'Cook Rice, I won't' 92cm x 62cm

'They are taking it to the pope' 92cm x 62cm

Detail

'Susanna & the Elders' 60cm x 47cm

Stella Whalley

In addition to an art practice that explores drawing, printmaking,
digital embroidery and photography, Whalley's art contains a
performative aspect. A reoccurring engagement - or even an obsession -
is her desire to insert herself as the protagonist within reference
frameworks from art history and contemporary culture. By imposing her
own self within these frameworks, her art work becomes a private archive
of memories, fantasy and desire which further uncovers psychological
insight into the 'self' and its relationship to the world.

Whalley's characteristic approach is again revealed in the works
presented at this exhibition. By tying together a wide range of
fragmented imagery from photos, newspaper-cuttings, drawings and
distorted text, Whalley has made a triptych of collage-embroideries
where she contemplates a myriad of disconnected ways that her personal
stories are mixed with historical events of brutal human behaviour and
disaster.

The work's execution and composition, from the process of scanning and digitalizing, cropping and framing, to the drawing and embroidering, also reflects this myriad of disconnected stories and events.

In regards to the collaboration with Tony Taylor, she finds it particularly
fascinating to see how he draws with stitches and how the stitches
translate and transform the quality of her drawings. "Whether it is
satin stitched with dark outlines, or scratchy pen drawings imposed with
rugged stitches with loose threads or tufts, the embroidering process
adds further decorative layers that gives a rich and embossed surface"
Whalley concludes.