Exhibitions
2024
Unfolding Stories 6
Three Storeys, Nailsworth 30 April - 12 May 2024
Symondsbury, 28 Sept - 13 October 2024
I have worked for many years with children in Children’s Homes and my work in this exhibition is dedicated to Giving Voice to this important group of the future generation who do not have someone unconditionally loving them and fighting for what they deserve.
My four works all use denim, a fabric chosen because it is common to us all, to both viewer and child in care. The embroidery is done in shades of yellow, orange and red, symbolising Life and Hope, Danger and Trauma. Both text and symbols are embroidered inviting the viewer to consider the facts presented and the concepts of connection (and lack thereof) and of isolation, just to focus on two of the many feelings experienced by children in Children’s Homes.
Ana Kirby
2022
Unfolding Stories 5
The West Barn, Bradford on Avon;
The Ilminster Arts Centre: Shaftesbury Art Centre
The Coat carries a family story. My parents immigrated to South Africa with two little boys, my brothers, aged two and three. They each had a coat and this is one of them. It has been embellished with symbols and motifs that embody the heritage from which I have emerged. It carries the threads of connection to the culture, to our family and to the incredibly enduring journey my parents undertook to give their children a better future.
2021
Blackswan Round Tower, Frome, 8-19 December 2021
The image that follows is the poster for the exhibition, which happens to show one of my pieces.
2020
Unfolding Stories 4
This exhibition was scheduled to hang at Lansdown Gallery in Stroud in May 2020 and the West Country Quilt & Textile Show in Bristol in August 2020. As a result of Covid it was only exhibited at the Landsdown Gallery in Stroud in July 2021.
Needing love, affection and protection to survive we will contort ourselves into any shape to remain alive. And so we adapt to what is necessary to be loved, to be accepted, to be recognised, to feel valued, to have friends, and not be alone.
Consisting of multiple images of smiling and non-smiling sunflowers this work is a colourful, fun looking strip as if a child’s sampler piece. The sunshine child is the bright looking, attentive, caring, considerate and always smiling child. This behaviour brings much appreciation and reinforcement from those surrounding him / her and can easily become an unconscious way of being. This piece is a playful yet serious depiction of choice: when to smile and when not to smile. It’s saying ‘ I will smile when it’s true. I will be real with my smile’
2018
Unfolding Stories 3
This exhibition hung in the following locations:
Harbour House Centre for Arts & Yoga, The Promenade, Kingsbridge, TQ7 1JD, 27th April – 3rd May 2018
Festival of Quilts, NEC Birmingham, B40 1NT, 9th – 12th August 2018
West Country Quilt & Textiles Show, Exhibition Centre, UWE, Bristol, BS34 8QZ, 30th August – 1st September 2018
SixDames
This exhibition was to take place in France in the summer of 2020. It has not as yet been rescheduled.