‘Because I love her’ – stitching together the untold stories of extraordinary women
Australian artist Nell’s desire to celebrate inspirational women led to people all over the world picking up needle and thread for a remarkable project that is on display for the first time in the Art Gallery of SA’s new Radical Textiles exhibition.
You can feel the collective love radiating from the two large textile works that together make the NELL ANNE QUILT, says Nell of the result of the collaborative project she has spearheaded over the past four years.
Three of the 441 embroidered patches on the quilts are dedicated to the most important women in her own life. One, to “Kylie”, is accompanied by the simple explanation, “Because I love her”.
Kylie is Nell’s wife, celebrated chef and restaurateur Kylie Kwong, whom she met at an art exhibition 20 years ago and married in 2019.
Another is for her mother Adèle, an educator and teacher of adult literacy of whom she writes “I was blessed to be born of this woman”, and the third is dedicated to her beloved Nan, Shelia Colleen Joy Smith, who, after ending up in hospital following a stroke that left her able to speak only “gibberish”, still managed to tell Nell, “clear as day”: “You make me happy’”.
“She was the classic Aussie battler; a little legend,” the artist tells InReview. “She was, as they say, the proverbial good egg, would give you the shirt off her back, a heart of gold – I wouldn’t be the person I was without my Nan.”
A detail view of the NELL ANNE QUILT featuring the patches Nell embroidered for her grandmother and wife. Photo: Saul Steed
Nell was joined by people all over the world in embroidering patches for the NELL ANNE QUILT, which is on show for the first time in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s Radical Textiles exhibition opening this week. Each patch is dedicated by its maker to an important woman in their life, and was created in response to a callout initiated by Nell as part of a residency in Aotearoa New Zealand at McCahon House – the 1950s Auckland home of artist Colin McCahon which is now a museum and artist residence.
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Nell explains that after reading a news article in 2016 that stated only 17 per cent of biographies on Wikipedia were for women, she began thinking about what she could do to tell more female stories.
“All these women have stories that are untold, because society doesn’t value their stories so much,” she says.
She particularly wanted to share the story of Anne McCahon, whose name inspired the other half of the title of the collaborative embroidered artwork. Anne was Colin’s wife, and a well-known painter, printmaker and illustrator herself. She gave up painting after starting a family, but later did illustration work for a school journal.
“It’s a very classic tale where she forewent her artistic career for his,” says Nell. “However, she was creative and resourceful within the means she had – she still embroidered the four children’s clothes.”
An installation view of the Radical Textiles exhibition at AGSA. Photo: Saul Steed
The callout for people to contribute patches for the NELL ANNE QUILT was issued during peak COVID. It began online and resulted in an overwhelming number of responses from both first-time sewers and experienced embroiderers. Later, people started posting their patches from across the globe.
Once submissions closed, the patches were sewn together to create two quilts. Viewed from a distance, they say ANNE and NELL in bold lettering, while up close viewers can read the names of the numerous women to whom individual patches have been dedicated.
“They’re massive!” Nell says of the quilts. “I wanted them to take up a lot of wall space – so you have these ordinary, humble women taking up space.”
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Some of the names are recognisable as those of trailblazing women. One patch – embroidered in gold metallic thread and featuring a crown – is dedicated to Aretha Franklin, “the Queen of Soul”. Another, featuring the name “Jacinda” stitched in colourful thread over an embroidered safety pin, was made by a group of women in Aotearoa and Australia to recognise how former NZ prime minister Jacinda Ardern steered the country through the pandemic in 2020.
A patch on the NELL ANNE QUILT dedicated to Jacinda Ardern. Photo: Saul Steed
Many more are dedicated to mothers, daughters, grandmothers, sisters and friends. The contributions are as culturally diverse as the styles of embroidery, and they span different generations.
In one of the patches and stories shared on the McCahon House website, 13-year-old Abigail has embroidered her mum Robyn’s name alongside a native yellow robin. In the accompanying text, she writes: “I love her unconditionally and I hope that we keep singing our songs, telling our stories and being there for each other because she is Magnificent, uncoordinated and most of all, Meaningful.”
Nell acknowledges that the NELL ANNE QUILT was an emotional project, saying sometimes she would “audibly gasp” when opening the packages containing patches. The artist feels honoured to bring together the collection of dedications that she says often recognise untold histories and contributions to society – “stories of resourcefulness, strength, love and enduring connections”.
“It’s the everyday stories that shine the brightest,” she says. “A lot of the children’s contributions are the most moving… many mothers were brought to tears by what their children had written.”
A patch on the NELL ANNE QUILT featuring a robyn is dedicated the the young embroiderer’s mum. Photo: Saul Steed
Rebecca Evans and Leigh Robb, co-curators of Radical Textiles, say quilts can offer a deep insight into people’s lives and shared experiences, as well as being symbols of remembrance. As well as the NELL ANNE QUILT, the exhibition will include the South Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt, a project which began in 1989 and features panels that act as a memorial to lives lost during the early years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Radical Textiles is intended to showcase how textiles and fashion have shaped history over the past 150 years within an exhibition space designed by Grieve Gillet Architects, who were also responsible for the dynamic design of AGSA’s Frida & Diego: Love & Revolution exhibition in 2023.
It includes work by British artist and designer William Morris and garments by renowned fashion designers, alongside Suffragette banners, First Nations works, and even the famous pink shorts that former premier Don Dunstan wore on the steps of Parliament House on November 22, 1972.
Radical Textiles is showing at the Art Gallery of South Australia from November 23 until March 30, 2025. Nell will take part in a “Thread Talks” event with artist writer, producer and quiltmaker Carolynne Gordon at the gallery’s Radford Auditorium on November 23 (details of all artist talks can be found here).