Manifesto Tapestry

For my manifesto artwork, I wanted to go down more of a traditional route of artwork to reflect a pre-covid world where coming together and enjoying food and company was more or a normal thing to do. As I am doing a society including robes and rooted in the historical town of Canterbury, I wanted to take a step back with the tapestry and do something away from the digital and the ordinary.

Tapestry Research

Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry. The scene depicts a meal taken before the Battle of Hastings. You can see people coming together, enjoying each others company and food highlighting how eating food together acts as a sort of ritual, here it is a goodbye, similar to The Last Supper by Da Vinci.

This tapestry shows a banquet feast celebrating an engagement. Again a ritual is happening, the food is a mere element amongst the community and company as well as the purpose of bringing people together.

Greyson Perry, Manifesto. I have also looked at the works and tapestries of Greyson Perry. I enjoy his playful approach to tapestry, taking a traditional art form and turning it into a more modern approach. He uses tapestry in an effortless way highlighting there are no limits to this media.

Manifesto Artwork Tapestry

The images below show the extend of detail in which I have taken to complete this tapestry. It was something that I enjoyed doing but was something that took up an immense amount of time. Roughly about a week an a half of 12 hour days this tapestry took to complete and sits over an A1 hessian material. I have used traditional medieval colours of rich reds, greens, blues and browns to depict the scene.

The scene shows members of the community coming together to enjoy healthy and nutritious food. They are all equal, as they wear their robes, supporting one another through their different journeys, some experiencing different levels of food poverty.