About
Slipping the Thread
CCA Project Space 18 March – 19 April
Sue Morris
Slipping the Thread picks up work that began on Sue Morris' residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre (2022) . It was further developed at the British School in Rome, 2024 and continues in the CCA Project Space. This contained space will offer a testing ground for improvised, expanded sculpture/drawings. For the duration of Sue's occupation, the work will be in an ongoing state of metamorphosis and flux and will be viewable, intermittently, through CCA's windows on Artillery Street.
Initially, at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, blankets and linens from the artist's mother's house were deployed - sometimes suspended, quiet and still, sometimes appearing to swoop, offer support and comfort, or appear on the point of collapse. These familiar household textiles became a means to explore feelings of grief, change and loss. At CCA, these fabrics will be augmented with other materials and objects and undergo further transformation.
Sue will draw on skills learnt from her mother and grandmother, both adept seamstresses, who clothed the family and made and repurposed items for the house. Tailoring and pattern-cutting will be referenced along with decorative stitching techniques such as pleating, ruching and smocking. Memory, intuition and trial and error will guide the work - an homage to their canny, resourceful and joyous making.
Sue Morris was born in England and is a graduate of the Royal College of Art, London. Since the early nineties she has lived in Ireland, most recently in Derry, Northern Ireland. Her multidisciplinary practice utilizes drawing, text, printmaking, film, photography, sound and installation. Her work explores historical and personal narratives: the known and the unknown, real and imagined, how identity is constructed and the erroneous nature of memory. The work is often in response to a particular place or specific set of circumstances.
Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally including Photophobia Festival of Contemporary Moving Image, Ontario, Canada; 16:9 Gallery, Lawrence University, Michigan, USA; Artisterium 7, Tblisi, Georgia; the Kunstverein Galerie, Vienna, Austria; the Irish Embassy, Bejiing, China; the QSS Gallery, Belfast and most recently at the RCC, Letterkenny.
Maurna Crozier Memorial Bursary, 2022
Funded by Derry City and Strabane District Council Individual Artist and Cultural Practitioners Award, 2024; and the Arts Council of N. Ireland Travel Award, 2024
