Parachute Project
The Parachute Project, developed in collaboration with Jacob V Joyce, positioned textile as a site of collective agency, where print, surface, and movement become activated through shared participation. Commissioned by the Museum of Homelessness (MOH), the work translates community-led visions into a large-scale interactive parachute designed to be lifted, expanded, and animated through group engagement.
The structure was constructed from multiple sewn silk panels, forming a single expansive circular surface. Each segment was individually printed before assembly, allowing imagery to be carefully aligned across seams once stitched together. The visual language was developed through workshops and collaborative drawing processes, resulting in four core illustrations printed in layered black and red. Monochrome base fields were used to unify the composition, while repeat printing ensured continuity of pattern flow across the full surface once constructed.
Material testing was a crucial part of the process. Waxed silk introduced technical challenges around ink absorption and adhesion, requiring iterative sampling to achieve both clarity and durability. Adjustments to pigment viscosity, curing time, and heat exposure were necessary to stabilise the final surface while maintaining tonal depth and vibrancy.
Once completed, the parachute functioned as both object and environment. It travelled internationally to Trinidad and Tobago for workshops at the Audrey Jeffers School for the Deaf as part of the Kambule Community Carnival 2023, where it became a shared space for movement, play, and expression. Its activation relies entirely on collective participation—its form only fully exists when held in motion by many hands.
Within my own practice, this project expanded my understanding of textile as social structure as well as material one. It reinforces my ongoing enquiry into process-led textile art exploring uncertainty, where meaning emerges through interaction, responsiveness, and shared embodied experience.
