To bring sunshine to London during the summer 2021, Selfridges commissioned a large-scale patchwork artwork to be displayed in the famous windows of the Selfridges, Oxford Street store. Depicting sunshine the 2.2M circular patchwork artwork was created by the Bethany Williams team in London using deadstock and second-hand garments to create a visual inspired by artworks created for the All Our Stories collection by artist Melissa Kitty Jarram.
To give the upholstery some structure and to stop the artwork from stretching we re-used a painted canvas sheet that was used as a backdrop to our SS22 lookbook campaign. We like to be able to give a second or third life to items used in the studio, reusing over and over where possible to reduce waste.
The artwork was installed in July 2021, displayed in the windows of Selfridges Oxford Street, alongside floral sculptures by Hilary Burns with vinyl lettering reading ‘Light Relief’.
We were so excited to be approached for creating this display alongside windows crafted by so many talented creatives. Our intention was to create a bright, bold and uplifting display. The artwork that we landed on for this, was inspired by the Sun and Wind print story, Bethany’s childhood story – this artwork was an abstract interpretation of Melissa Kitty Jarram's Sun and Wind print story, recreated with fabric using patchwork.
Matta Siregar, the project lead notes – “There are so many stories held within in this installation both directly and indirectly. From the stories gathered for the SS22 collection, to the original homes that these garments once had, to the process of making the final piece. To see pedestrians candidly pausing on such a busy and bustling street to look, take pictures, even talk about the installation was an honour”.
