Ann Ryan

Wonderfully feminine and whimsical the resulting juxtapositions of pattern, form and colour playfully celebrate the aesthetics of both the humble and everyday as well as the luxurious outputs of high fashion. Ryan’s methodical process of collecting, selecting and stitching-together salvaged fragments from once loved garments, upholstery and pieces of antique haberdashery serves as a metaphor for notions of sustainability and gives a nod to the slow fashion and visible mending movements. Full of dream-like possibility Ryan’s vibrant and highly detailed images take the viewer on a truly joyful journey of memorabilia and imagination.

'The artist draws from a vast collection of fabrics when creating her work. These have been found, gifted and collected over the years. In her creative process, figures become imbibed with the past lives of these fabrics, and this circular economy of material and memory resonates through her work. Each figure is singular in its own construction and the past lives of the materials it celebrates. In this way, Ryan’s work and its figures share a collective femininity, rather than a shared identity, they are sisters, not twins. Their particularities elevate the notion of the individual and the collective memory at once.'
Excerpt from catalogue essay by Laura Kirkham 2024