Live Print
Live Printing was developed in collaboration with 3rd Rail Print Space as a mobile screen-printing project designed to bring textile printing directly into public, social, and event-based environments. The project operates through temporary pop-up print stations installed across studios, venues, and community spaces, allowing audiences to engage directly with the printing process in real time.
The practical structure of the project centres around portability and responsiveness. Screens, pigments, garments, presses, and drying systems are adapted into a mobile setup capable of functioning across different environmental conditions. Designs are developed in collaboration with commissioners or event organisers beforehand, while the live aspect allows participants to select prints, garments, placements, and layering combinations themselves. The process includes both traditional screen printing and heat-transfer methods, with materials prepared specifically for fast curing and repeated use throughout live events.
What interests me most within this format is the shift in how printmaking is experienced. Removed from the privacy of the studio, the process becomes visible, immediate, and collective. Participants witness the physical construction of the image—the pressure of the pull, the behaviour of pigment, the registration of layers—and begin to understand printing as something tactile and responsive rather than purely graphic.
Within my wider practice, Live Printing has expanded my understanding of how textile processes can function socially as well as materially. It reinforces my ongoing enquiry into process-led textile art exploring uncertainty, where interaction, environment, and unpredictability actively shape outcome.
The project also aligns closely with my broader philosophy: that materials gain meaning through engagement and presence. By bringing printmaking into public space, the work opens a dialogue between process, participation, and perception—allowing textile printing to operate not only as production, but as shared experience.
