This exhibition, 'Samplers and Sampling', was an exploration into the nature of the connection between 'sampling' in digital media and textile samplers. Samplers and digital technology both manipulate information in a manner that questions the value and priority of the 'original'. This exhibition also explored the seduction of stitchery itself.
Embroidery is a culturally-loaded textile art.
In our culture when embroidery is used it is often associated with gender, memory or nostalgia. This is a strength but in other ways these cultural associations hinder the artist. Embroidery is often used as a quote which points to these cultural issues. It is rarely read as a graphic medium in its own right. In the print and multimedia industries, image manipulation software programs such as 'photoshop', produce sophisticated images which, to an untrained eye, are associated with digital technology.