Hayley Mills-Styles
My practice is about telling stories through thread and stitch, these stories may be autobiographical or inspired by the lives of other people. I am fascinated by objects that remind us of a certain time or place and the memories that are released when these objects are deconstructed and explored before reconstructing them into new forms.
This collection of work for the MA show is inspired by a settee from the nineteen thirties, an object which has acted as a catalyst for releasing memories of a childhood spent with my paternal grandparents who adopted me at the age of two. I remember the sofa in our living room as the place where I slept, hid from unwanted visitors and where I learnt to knit. Each part of the sofa is a memory which I have captured using digital embroidery, text pieces and embossing to create an archive of my childhood.
