The Isle of Dogs Flax Exchange: Flax Suite

The Isle of Dogs Flax Exchange, a year-long community project led by artist Shane Waltener, will conclude on 25 May 2024 at Poplar Union with an in-house exhibition and live performance of Flax Suite.

Flax Suite is the culmination of a series of workshops with local groups and volunteers on the Isle of Dogs who, over the past year, have been involved in the planting, harvesting, spinning, dyeing, weaving and stitching of flax.

Sustainable textile processes and soil to soil systems have been crafted into a series of live ‘making-actions’ by Shane Waltener and the participants, in collaboration with sound artists Otto Willberg and Elisha Millard, performance artist Merlin Nova and dance artist Laura Glaser.

The Flax Exchange project was initiated in Walton-on-the-Naze by Shane Waltener and The Nose, a project space and bookshop in north east Essex. It drew inspiration from textile fibersheds, a term coined by sustainability campaigner Rebecca Burgess, describing networks connecting growers, makers and consumers.

Textile making is repetitive, rhythmic and inherently musical, with singing and movement often traditionally used to keep the maker rooted in the pattern of production. The performance of Flax Suite aims to make the process of transforming flax from plant to linen visible, highlighting the connection between textiles, song and dance.