Maker Unknown, her new commission for Fabrica, is a haunting sculptural work, developed in response to her inquiry into Sashiko, a traditional, Japanese quilting technique employed by women to make work clothing. In 2003 Michele was awarded a three-year Arts & Humanities Research Board Fellowship (AHRB) at the University of Brighton, to facilitate her research into its practice. Totemic in feel, this installation is an outsider’s perception of rural Japanese life, a response to a fading tradition and an acknowledgement of its marginalised workers.

Memory and identity are repeated themes in Michele Walker’s work. Memorium, also on display in the exhibition, is a plastic and wire wool quilt stitched in the pattern of her own skin. Made in 2002, this piece evolved from the artist’s memories of her mother’s mental decline and subsequent loss of identity.