The Prism Textiles 2026 exhibition at The Art Pavilion, Mile End is open!
The theme Dictionary has challenged me and taken my work in a different direction, exploring both the 2D and 3D.
This work investigates the evolutionary history of alphabetic systems that made the dictionary possible. The dictionary is a technology dependent on a specific linguistic innovation: the phonetic alphabet. My research traces the transformation from pictorial representation (Egyptian hieroglyphs) through the first phonetic system (Phoenician script, circa 1050 BCE) to the Greek alphabet, which added vowels and became the prototype for Western lexicography.
The spiral—both formal motif and conceptual device—charts approximately 3,000 years of human attempts to fix spoken language into visible, ordered form, questioning how we organise, preserve, and retrieve meaning.
Three alphabets as linguistic archaeology: hieroglyphs anchor the centre, Phoenician script forms the middle band, Greek letters complete the outer edge. By cutting into the felt rather than applying surface decoration, the letterforms create relief and shadow, suggesting both the inscriptive nature of early writing.
Hieroglyphs spiral from the base upward through Phoenician consonants to Greek letters at the rim. The vessel form references ancient ceramic jars used to preserve scrolls, embodying how writing systems ‘contain’ language and enable its transmission across time.
Informed by fragmentary carpet textiles in the V&A’s collection, this piece presents all three alphabets as overlapping palimpsest. The hessian ground (or coarse linen) evokes archaeological textiles whilst the deliberately incomplete composition suggests how dictionaries are always fragmentary attempts to capture the totality of language.
The exhibition is on until Sunday 26th April.
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