Help Ukraine: Without Reserve

"This piece was inspired by a personal diary entry I wrote during the peak of the pandemic. The socially distant pandemic picnic became a familiar concept to most, where we brought two bottles of wine from two different households, two sandwiches made in two different kitchens, and two different picnic blankets placed two metres apart." 

Llinos Owen (b.1998) is a Welsh fine art textile artist originally from North Wales, currently based in South London. Owen graduated from Wimbledon College of Arts in 2020 and since then has been exhibiting across the UK as well as in a recent solo exhibition titled "Thank Your Lucky Stars" at Orleans House Gallery in London.

Llinos Owen's autobiographical textile practice begins with personal written and visual material from her diary as the artist documents her thoughts and experiences focusing on vulnerable themes relating to mental health, personal relationships and anxieties. The artist initially started writing in her diary as a form of meditation, but unexpectedly and naturally, the material in her diary became the starting point and main source of inspiration for her textile works. 

Llinos Owen's textile practice explores memories, anxieties, relationships, youth and personal life experiences to create textured tapestries focusing youth culture inspired figurative imagery through the medium of punch needle rug hooking. Owen’s highly personal textile practice explores themes relating to the artist’s identity as she views her diaristic inspired pieces as forms of visual storytelling and self portraiture.

Identity and gender are important themes within Owen's practice as the materials and techniques she explores acknowledges the history of feminine identities by focusing on historically women dominated craft, which blurs the lines between the domestic, the mundane and the gallery space. Although the artist predominantly works with textile materials, Owen's practice is heavily drawing focused and still considers her thinking and approach to making as being very painterly.