Beth Williams
About
Beth Williams is a disabled multi-disciplinary artist who specialises in Knitwear, Living Textiles and Soft Sculpture. Their practice centres around their experience of an inaccessible world, as well as the relationship between human and environmental sustainability. They were recently spotlighted by Dazed & Confused: 'Dazed and Discovered'; and exhibited work during London Design Festival 2022 as part of the Human Resources exhibition.
After graduating from Central Saint Martins, where they studied Fashion Design with Knitwear, Beth struggled to find a place for their practice to flourish. Their work at the RCA has focused on carving a space for themselves in the industry and expanding that space by starting to build a community around it. Their living textiles and garments grows alongside them, collaborating together to question the status quo.
Beth’s practice is in the present,
their work speaks to the future.
It can be confusing but also magical,
but most of all it is theirs.
Statement
My practice started from a place of frustration. Existing as a disabled person within the creative industry can be so difficult. Accessibility and sustainability issues are often seen as distinct but to them they are one and the same. Fashion can be just as unkind to the people within it as it is to the planet.
As a form of protest I created a series of yarns and textiles designed for their afterlife. They’re compostable and growable, they give back to the earth. They completely bypass being worn by humans. This series poses the question: is the most accessible piece of clothing the one that is entirely inaccessible to all?
Upon this series, that I named ‘Afterlife’, I began to create my own world. A gentle, caring, compassionate world of living textiles. I cannot control my living pieces. They would grow and live for as long as they want, forcing me respect the natural flow of nature and slow myself down. Allowing me time to analyse the past, be present in the now, and evaluate the future.
No world is complete without a community, I have already started to invite people into mine. I have a privileged position to access information, research and explore new techniques. I have the time and space to experiment and find ways processes can be done in the comfort of peoples home, on a budget. Many disabled people are not so lucky. This is why it is so important for me to share my process. My soft sculptures represent the importance I place on community, and including those who often feel forgotten.
As collaborate with non human life, many of my experiments are unsuccessful but I learn something from each failure. I carry that knowledge throughout my practice whilst searching for awe in nature. My practise is lot like my compost bin. I work through all the waste and “crap” in order for new life to blossom.
My practice and my Life is like Compost.
I will grow.
Afterlife: Living Yarns
Afterlife: Living Yarns
Yarns designer entirely for their afterlife.
Yarns for garments that are designed to be discarded.
Yarns designed to bypass human use.
Yarns designed to pose the question: is the most accessible piece of clothing the one that is entirely inaccessible to all?
Medium: various natural fibres and seeds
Non Humanwear: Hands Top
The ‘Hands’ Top
The first living crocheted garment in the Non Humanwear: Afterlife series, made from the hand spun growable yarn I’ve developed.
The goal for this piece was to design a garment that would go straight to landfill. Both designer and fast fashion discard garments before they ever go onto a human body, a large percentage of them land up finding their way to landfill. On top of that accessibility is rarely considered when designing clothing.
In protest I wanted to design materials and garments that are entirely inaccessible to all humans. that were designed entirely for the afterlife, to provide an environment where non human life can thrive, and to have little environmental impact when composting in landfill.
Medium: crocheted hand spun yarn
Compost Vest
The ‘Compost’ Vest
Born from my frustration.
I grew weary of the inaccessibility of the creative industry. Working with humans did not bring me half as much joy as working with my living textiles.
Growing alongside my work is both enlightening and slightly terrifying.
Carl Sagan put it best: ‘Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe.’
Medium: knitted top with growable paper
Uzumaki Skirt
The ‘Uzumaki’ Skirt
Spiralling into the joy of creating again.
A free form crochet skirt made with my growable hand spun yarn, organic merino and silk.
This piece has now been composted in my textile bin and has been used to plant a crop of sunflowers. Completing its life cycle and giving me a new level of fulfilment with my practice.
Growing alongside my work;
Carving out a space for myself;
I will bloom.
Medium: free form crochet skirt made with my growable hand spun yarn, organic merino and silk.
The Symbiosis Top
The ‘Symbosis’ Top
Crocheted growable paper made from old sketchbooks and scrap fabric and fibre; organic silk and wool; added wheatgrass to stabilise paper.
An exploration into how the nature of a material can change by leaning into particular plants root properties.
Medium: growable paper crocheted togther
The Life is like Compost Top
The ‘Life is like Compost’ top.
Pink oyster mushrooms colonised and cultivated on hand spun, hand dyed lotus flower fibre crochet top.
Playing with fungi and how the consume cellulose to grow. An experiment with how textile waste can be consumed rather than discarded.
One species' waste is another's food.
Medium: pink oyster mushrooms cultivated on crocheted lotus yarn slogan top
Living Felt: Survivors Offering
Survivors Offering; growable felt
In less than two years I’ve gone from a person who didn’t want to live, to an artist who yearns to be surrounded with life.
I’m growing my range of living textiles through lot of trial and error. After learning to process raw fleeces, felted pieces seemed like inevitable addition. It's a joy to have even more control over the environmental impact of my practice by processing fibre myself.
My “not quite human” figures represent the community I value you so much.
I am You;
and You are Me.
Medium: mixed media soft sculptures and living felt