Whitworth partnership explores identity, belonging and storytelling through textiles, upcycling and performance

Turner Prize-nominated artist Delaine Le Bas has collaborated with Manchester Met students on an ambitious creative project exploring identity, belonging and personal storytelling. 

The project brought together undergraduate and postgraduate students from Manchester Fashion Institute and Manchester School of Art for an immersive creative experience with Le Bas and the Whitworth, working across fashion, textiles, embroidery, upcycling and experimental making. 

Inspired by Le Bas’ Whitworth exhibition Un-Fair-Ground, 12 students were invited to reflect on their own lived experiences and consider what they would say ‘no’ to in their lives - whether in relation to identity, culture, personal circumstance or social expectation. 

Using meaningful personal objects as a starting point, the students transformed garments and materials into expressive, wearable artworks that told deeply personal stories about cultural identity, motherhood, community, work and self-expression. 

Items chosen by the students included a tablecloth featuring drawings by one student’s children, a well-worn denim jacket and a suit originally bought for a job interview. These objects were creatively reworked during a workshop at the Whitworth led by Le Bas and fellow artist Wendy Roby. 

Le Bas, who is Romany by heritage, is known for using clothing and textiles as powerful mediums within her practice. Her work often incorporates painted garments, theatrical costumes and everyday clothing to challenge stereotypes about her culture and explore themes of identity, exclusion and resistance. 

These ideas were reflected throughout the student project and culminated in a special event at the Whitworth, where Le Bas performed within the Un-Fair-Ground installation before students and lecturers shared the stories behind their finished works. 

For the event, Le Bas invited the students to wear and present their final upcycled creations to the audience, sharing personal narratives of identity, community and lived experience through informal talks and Q&As. 

Delaine Le Bas said: “It was great working with the students and seeing how they had embraced the themes within the exhibition to express their personal stories. It made me very happy to see some of them at the final performance in the garments and speaking about how they felt about making their works.  

“Everyone had their own narratives embedded into garments in a multitude of materials and techniques. I so enjoyed spending the time with everyone.” 

Chloe Pimlott, a second-year BA Fine Art student, worked collaboratively with her children to incorporate shared drawings on a tablecloth into intricate textile pieces, exploring her experience of parenting alongside her academic practice. 

Pimlott said: “Navigating the mother-child dyad is a constant and evolving challenge that permeates every aspect of my life. The collaborative tablecloth provided a conversation space that repositioned caring as a radical method of productivity. My practice revolves around the expanded body, which means my experiences and the subjective, qualitative nature of how I spend my time becomes central to the work I produce.  

“Thanks to Delaine and to the tutors Liz and Sarah for accepting my family as an integral part of my practice and for catapulting my ambition, quite literally, through the doors of the Whitworth.”

Momoyioluwa Olatokun, MSc International Fashion Business Management student, reimagined a suit into a bold creative garment, exploring the tension between individual expression and societal expectations within the workplace. 

He said: ” Working with Delaine Le Bas was a unique opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and explore fashion as a form of storytelling and self-expression. Through reimagining a suit, I was able to reflect on the relationship between identity, creativity and the expectations often associated with professional environments.  

“The project encouraged me to think more critically about the role of clothing in shaping how we see ourselves and how we are perceived by others, while also giving me the confidence to experiment with new creative approaches.” 

Across the group, upcycling and adaptation became powerful tools for storytelling, echoing Le Bas’ own practice of reworking garments and found materials. 

The students were part of Rise, Manchester Met’s award-winning co-curricular programme, which enables students to gain experience across disciplines, accrue credit points and receive recognition for career-enhancing learning. 

Liz Silvester, Lecturer in Fashion Art Direction and Design at Manchester Met, said: “This has been a joyful, experimental and deeply meaningful experience for our students and us as academics. Working with Delaine Le Bas has given us all confidence to explore our own stories and identities in a completely open and collaborative way. 

“The ability to evolve beyond our own disciplines as creative practitioners is increasingly important, particularly in a world shaped by AI. Projects like this remind us of the value of the human hand - of making, drawing, painting and using our hands and bodies as part of the creative process. That feels incredibly important to protect right now.” 

Sarah Easom, Senior Lecturer in BA Fashion at Manchester Met, added: “Thanks to Delaine’s inspiring and generous work with our students, the sense of community that developed across disciplines, ages and backgrounds was incredibly powerful. This was about much more than making work - it was about finding a voice.” 

Denise Bowler, Producer (Young People) at the Whitworth, added: “Delaine’s generous spirit made this project so special.  It’s great to be able to work alongside an exhibiting artist.  There was no hierarchy between artist, Manchester Met staff or students.   

“I was in awe of the range of creative ideas from the students’ personal responses to Un-Fair-Ground.  They all gained so much from hearing about how she became an artist and sustained her practice - from washing cars to fund artist materials to being a Turner Prize nominee.” 

The collaboration is the latest in a series of Manchester Met projects with high profile artists, following creative initiatives with graduate Stanley Chow for a BRIT Awards arts trail and a link up with LA-based Suzanne Lacey highlighting challenges facing women over 50