Often incorporated as part of a wider artistic practice, the everyday, intimate and accessible quality of textiles is used to create works that are theatrical, bold, unsettling and humorous.

The artists in this exhibition share a deep awareness of the cultural significance of textiles, alongside a desire to test their potential as a medium for contemporary art. The familiar, material stuff of everyday life is transformed into the unexpected – the ordinary made extraordinary – to explore ideas of the body, identity, gender, race, heritage, myth and folklore.

Artists featured in the exhibition include Caroline Achaintre, Jonathan Baldock, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Holly Hendry, Tonico Lemos Auad, Paul Maheke, Anna Perach, Yelena Popova, Paloma Proudfoot, Yinka Shonibare, Rae-Yen Song, Tenant of Culture and Zadie Xa.

Material Worlds has been curated by Caroline Achaintre. A Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition from the Southbank Centre, London. Supported by Leonard Design.

Top picture: Song Dynasty, 2021 by Rae-Yen Song © the artist. Photo: Luke Pickering