ESarah-Joy Ford is an artist and independent scholar working with textiles to explore the complexities and pleasures of queer communities, histories and archives.

Her practice sits at intersection of digital and traditional: using strategies of quilting, digital embroidery, digital print, applique and hand embellishment. Her deep material investment in surface pattern design, and embellishment is part of her femme-ethical methodology that prioritises softness, emotionality, and aesthetic preoccupation.

She was the recipient of an NWDTCP award for her PhD research examining quilting as an affective methodology for revisioning British lesbian archive, at Manchester School of Art.

Recent solo shows include HARE at Bobinska Brownlee Gallery (London), Looking for Lesbians at ONE Gallery (Los Angeles) and Beloved at Plas Newydd Historic House and Gardens (Llangollen). Her work has recently been commissioned for A Tall Order at Touchstones Rochdale (2023); Un-Defining Queer at The Whitworth Manchester (2022) and Manchester Science Park (2022-2023). Her work is held in numerous collections including The Whitworth, Manchester; The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; Soho House Art Collection, The ONE Archives, Los Angles; and her archive is held at The Bishopsgate Institute, London.

@sarahjoy.ford

Photo by Phoenix Neri