Jane Walkley

Jane Walkley is a UK based contemporary tapestry weaver working with jesmonite. Through her practice, Jane considers how industrial buildings that are no longer used for their original purpose invoke memory and attachment. Jane asks herself who has occupied these spaces. What is their history and what makes them unique? She considers who has contributed to the marks and traces, looking for objects that allude to past workplace activities. A mold is taken from the found object and jesmonite cast to create individual units that have their own characteristics. Material from the site is embedded into the jesmonite providing a physical link to the place. Often this is the dust and debris, the fabric of the building that contains traces of the people who have passed through it. Once completed the original object is returned to where it was found. Colours are carefully chosen from the graffitied walls. Historic dye books are studied to bring the research full circle with the gradients reflected in the bold colour shift. The finished piece takes on a sculptural quality that maintains a physical and visual connection to the site it documents, linking place, memory and materiality.