‘Cecil,’ 2014, ‘Alice,’ 2016 and ‘Griselda’ 2016. Wool, lace, stone and wood
Freddie Robins uses knitting to explore contemporary issues of the domestic, gender and the human condition. Playfully subverting meaning and making, her work disrupts notions of knitting as passive and benign.
Freddie doesn’t have to look far for her research, with nearby Wivenhoe bringing her one of the women accused of being at witch – Alice Dixon – in 1644. She deploys used objects worn and shaped by human hands such as walking sticks or a glove to provide the catalyst to take us directly into the domestic realm of the home, where we are reminded of the everyday lives of women accused of witchcraft. This is further compounded by her inclusion of found objects, such as finger shaped stones, suggesting the votive power we imbue everyday objects with, and how they can stand in for the presence of others.
Recent exhibitions include ‘If Not Now, When? Generations of Women in Sculpture in Britain, 1960 – 2022’, The Hepworth, Wakefield (2023); ‘Creature Comforts’, JGM Gallery, London (2022- 23); Kette und Schuss, CC binder, Puurs, Belgium (2020) and ‘We are Commoners: Creative Acts of Commoning’, Oriel Davis Gallery, Wales and touring (2020).
www.freddierobins.com
