Textile Art Redefined: A New Era at Saatchi

Textile art takes centre stage at the Saatchi Gallery, as fifteen artists redefine the medium’s place within contemporary fine art

The upcoming Textile Art Redefined at London’s Saatchi Gallery, on show from 10 April–10 May, will feature fifteen artists who celebrate the innovation andcreativity of contemporary fine art textiles.

From Craft to Contemporary Fine Art

This ambitious exhibition is curated by Helen Adams, known online (website, Instagram etc.) as Textile Curator. She studied Constructed Textiles and her career has gone on to include journalist, stylist and author of the book Textile Fine Art (released by Laurence King Publishing in September 2025).

The exhibition emerged from the publication of the book, which introduces us to the artworks of fifty ‘celebrated fibre artists from around the world.’

The artists chosen to be part of the Saatchi show include Deniz Kurdak, Cayce Zavaglia, Simone Pheulpin, Ian Berry, Magda Sayeg, Kenny Nguyen, Benjamin Shine, Kaffe Fassett, Anne von Freyberg and Signe Emdal—all masters in a range of unique textile techniques.
 

Rewriting the Narrative of Textile Art

Ahead of the exhibition, I asked Adams why she believes textiles took so long to be accepted as a fine art medium. She says: “For a long time, textile work wasn’t recognised by the art establishment as ‘fine art’: it was dismissed as women’s work, created within the domestic setting, and categorised as craft rather than art.”

“Women were often excluded from studying fine art, shaping how textile practices were perceived, even at institutions such as the Bauhaus. One of the main reasons textile art is now accepted is the rise of social media, which has helped it bypass traditional gatekeepers,” she adds.

Since the beginning of human existence, textiles have acted as a kind of barometer of society, living alongside us and enriching our story. It is then no surprise that social media has opened up new pathways for textile arts.

As attitudes have shifted and access to formal art education has widened, artists have been able to move more freely across disciplines, helping textile practices gain greater visibility within the art world.

 A broader rewriting of art history—one that reappraises overlooked traditions and centres the work of women, artists of colour and minorities—has also contributed to this renewed focus, as many of these artists work with textile-based processes that are now being exhibited rather than ignored.

Adams selected the fifteen artists because they illustrate the freedom and expressive nature under which textiles have thrived, having existed for so long under the radar.

This space has allowed artists to experiment, push boundaries and develop highly individual voices, with some drawn to textiles precisely because of its subversive potential.

Pushing the Boundaries of Fibre and Form

As art professor and knitting artist Freddie Robbins explains in Adams’s book Textile Fine Art: “You can say things through textiles and knitting that, if it was painted or produced in a hard medium, what you were saying would be too obvious.With a soft medium people expect one thing and they start engaging with the work. Before they realise this, they’re viewing something that they didn’t expect to see.”

This ability to disarm the viewer—drawing them in before revealing something more complex—is one of the reasons textile art is such a powerful and resonant medium today.

Many of the artists featured have spent decades refining their craft, achieving extraordinary levels of technical skill; Cayce Zavaglia’s embroidered portraits, for example, are so precise they are often mistaken for paintings.

Others continue to expand the possibilities of the medium, from Ian Berry’s immersive denim installations to Simone Pheulpin’s sculptural works formed from folded calico.

When it comes to the exhibition at Saatchi Gallery on the 10 April, we will expect the unexpected.

You can also read this article in COVER 82, which is available now on the Hali Shop Website and Exact Editions.

Words by Lucy Upward