Printed Whispers, September 2019-January 2020

Printed Whispers is a new public design commission by designer and OSE alumnus Yemi Awosile as part of Margate NOW. A textile and spatial intervention, Printed Whispers makes use of local chalk as well as reconditioned objects sourced from the local neighbourhood to test, re-design and co-design a communal space in the home of OSE, at the Adult Education Centre.

Venue: Adult Education Centre, 1-3 Hawley Square, Margate CT9 1PF
Dates: 28 September 2019-30January 2020

Yemi Awosile’s work is informed by cultural insights expressed primarily through textiles and printed matter. The designer’s projects are often shaped by research developed and collected during workshops with a range of participants, largely new to the field of textile design, with whom she works over a sustained period of time.

For this commission, Yemi Awosile has worked with local groups and organisations including Quarterdeck, Kent Community Learning and Skills, Garden Gate Project, Broadstairs Town Shed, and the Despacito Art School working under the umbrella of Open School East. Over a period of three months, the designer has led a series of fifteen workshops in printmaking and mark making, using a heat press, plants and wood blocks.

The final design for the space combines hand crafted, experimental and digital embroidery techniques. It includes a collection of large-scale, colourful fabrics, and surface designs covered with motifs that have been created by the various community groups. The project references archive designs from previous students of the original Thanet School of Arts and Crafts – which from 1931-74 operated in the same building that Open School East now occupies.

Yemi Awosile – Printed Whispers. Credit: Lou Lou Sainsbury

Printed Whispers is an Open School East commission part of Margate NOW festival, an ambitious and dynamic festival of art, events and performances. This year, in response to Turner Prize 2019 at Turner Contemporary the programme runs from 28 September 2019 – 12 January 2020. It has been developed by Turner Contemporary, Margate Festival, Open School East, 1927, Resort, Crate, Limbo, Dreamland Margate, Kent County Council and Kent Libraries, Thanet District Council and locally based artists. It is supported by Arts Council England through National Lottery funding, as well as contributions from Kent County Council, Thanet District Council and Dreamland Margate. Turner Prize 2019 is organised in collaboration with Tate.

Yemi Awosile is a designer living and working in London. Recent projects include collaborations with the De La Warr Pavilion, Tent Rotterdam, Tate Gallery, Contemporary And (C&) magazine, Design Museum, ICA, Crafts Council, and British Council. She trained as a textile designer at the Royal College of Art and Chelsea College of Art. She has taught textile design for a number of years at Loughborough University in the School of the Arts and worked as an artist educator in museums and art organisations. Yemi is an alumnus of Open School East (2013-14).

Yemi Awosile – Printed Whispers. Credit: Lou Lou Sainsbury