Archana Pathak
Artist
Artist Statement
My practice weaves together the layered threads of Indian and British heritage, grounded in stitch and fine art textiles. Over the past nine years, I have worked with memory artefacts—maps, letters, postcards, photographs, and diaries—each one a fragment of time that speaks to the shifting nature of identity, home, and belonging. These materials form the foundation of my work, and I continue to return to them as sites of inquiry, emotion, and care.
Stitching has always been my way of navigating these materials—a slow, repetitive, almost meditative process that allows space for contemplation. In this way, collected old maps which are the major part of this journey, are not just tools of navigation, but emotional geographies: they carry personal and collective histories, evolving borders, and invisible lines between places and people. By cutting, layering, and reassembling these artefacts through thread, I trace the contours of both physical and psychological landscapes.
More recently, my practice has expanded to include my own photographs—quiet moments of transience collected across seasons: filtered light, shifting skies, the soft outlines of landscape. These images are not a departure from the archival material, but a continuation of the same inquiry—one that now integrates lived experience with inherited memory. The old and the new coexist in each work, stitched together into evolving compositions that hold space for both what has been and what is still unfolding.
Whether working with an aged map or a photograph I’ve just taken, my process remains tuned to/wards Beauty—not as something ornamental, but as something fleeting, ephemeral, and deeply felt. Each stitch becomes a gesture of presence, a way of holding and releasing, a quiet act of attention. I am guided as much by intuition as by research, allowing the materials to shape the direction of each piece over time.
Toshiko Takaezu’s words continue to resonate: “An artist is a poet in their own medium… it is alive.” In my hand made thread, I find a language that holds memory, marks time, and gives form to the unsaid. I often return to Eugene Ionesco’s reflection: “Only the ephemeral is of lasting value.” This sentiment lives at the heart of my work—a practice of honouring the transient, stitching together fragments into something momentarily whole.
Recent awards - 2022 The Needle maker awardee at Cockpit arts, London.
2021 Finalist "Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award, represented by Ruup & Form Gallery.
Finalist Transformation 10: Contemporary Works in Found Materials, the Elizabeth R.Raphael Founder’s Prize, 2019 USA.
Represented by Ruup & Form, London gallery at Collect art fair 2021-24 & London Art Fair 2023-24
Education
2014 - MA in Sustainable Textile design from Chelsea College of Arts and Design, London
2003 - Masters (PGDP) in Apparel and Textile Design from NID (Nationl Institute of Design, India)
Exhibitions
2025 Future Icons selects, London craft week, London 14-18th May
2025 Cockpit Edit exhibition, Bloomsberry, London 12-16th May
2024 Cockpit Arts Open Studios, Bloomsberry, London 21-24 November
2024 Textile Artist Org, Stitch club workshop : 23rd September- 4th October
2024 Cockpit Arts Open Studios, Bloomsberry, London 23-25th June
2024 Collect Art Fair, Represented by Ruup & Form, Somerset House, London UK (1-3rd March)
2024 London Art Fair , Represented by Ruup & Form, Business Design centre, London (18-22nd January)
2023 Cockpit Arts Open Studios: 24-26 November
2023 Cockpit Arts Open Studios, Bloomsberry London 23-25th June
2023 London Craft Week, Lightning Talks, Buckle Street Studios (by Locke), 11th May 2023
2023 Collect Art Fair, Represented by Ruup & Form, Somerset House, London, 3-5 March ( PV dates 1-2 March,)
2023 London Art Fair , Represented by Ruup & Form, Business Design centre, London (18-22nd January)
2022 The Other Art Fair London, King's Cross (30 June - 3 July)
2022 Solo show at The Textile Galleries, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Alexandra Palace (6-9 October 2022)
2022 Solo show at The Textile Galleries, The Knitting & Stitching Show, Harrogate (17-20 November 2022)
2022 Collect Art Fair, Represented by Ruup & Form, Somerset House, London, UK ( February)
2021 Artefact Craft Fair, Represented by Ruup & Form, London, UK (22nd - 29th June)
2021 Collect Art Fair, Represented by Ruup & Form, London, UK (26 Feb- 2 March)
2020 Rising Stars Exhibition, New Ashgate Gallery, Surrey, UK (March 7th-13th June 2020)
2019 Handmade in Britain, Oxford ( June 27-30th)
2019 Ashmolean Museum, Identity exhibition, Handmade in Britain, Oxford ( June 14-16th)
2019 Cluster Art & Craft Fair, London ( May 2-5th)
2019 Group Exhibition at Seventeen Gallery, London (18-20th Jan)
2018 - Transformation 10: Contemporary Works in Found Materials , United States,
Pittsburgh (September 14, 2018-March 9, 2019)
2018 - Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios, Textile Hub London ( June 23 - 24th)
2018 - Select Trail, Gallery 2, Museum in the Park, Stratford Park, Stroud, UK (May 5 - 6th)
2017 - Selvedge Fair, London (2nd December)
2017- Marshwood Arts, Bridport Arts Centre from Saturday 4th November to 2nd December 2017)
2017- Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios, Textile Hub London (24-25th June)
2017 - The Contemporary Craft Festival , Devon (9-11th June)
2016 - Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios, Textile Hub London (1-4th December)
2016 - Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios, Textile Hub London (25-26th June)
2015 - Kingsgate Workshops Open Studios, Textile Hub London (18-19th July)
2014 - Chelsea College Postgraduate Summer Show 2014 (5th to 12th September)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chelsea-ual/15304611343
Awards
2022 The Needlemakers' Award at Cockpit Arts
Shortlisted for the 2021 "Brookfield Properties Crafts Council Collection Award"
Finalist in Transformation 10: Contemporary Works in Found Materials, the Elizabeth
R. Raphael Founder’s Prize (September 14, 2018-March 9, 2019), US.
Selected as finalist for the Applied Arts category within the Marshwood Arts Awards
Best New Business- Contemporary Craft Festival Jury Award 2017, UK.
Interviews/Features
2022 Work featured in Saatchi Art Catalogue in October-22
https://www.saatchiart.com/catalog/2022/5#catalog_content
2022 Feature in Colour Hive Magazine
2020 Work to feature in the book Textile Travels authored by Anne Kelly
2019 Feature in a Dutch Textile Art magazine (https://www.textielplus.nl/artikelen/borduren-thema-txp- textiel-plus-250/)
2018 Work featured in Embroidery Magazine; May-June 2019
2017 Artist feature and interview by Helen Adams, Textile Curator
http://www.textilecurator.com/home-default/home-2-2/archana-pathak/
2017 Features as Artist of the Week and interviewed by Craft Council, UK
http://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/articles/crafts-council-maker-of-the-week-archana-pathak/
Member
Craft Council Directory Member