Lydia Budler (She/Her)
My project is an exploration and celebration of lesbian memorabilia, mostly from the Glasgow Women’s Library Lesbian Archives. Taking initial inspiration from the 1980s Rebel Dykes and imagery from the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, I became fascinated by symbolism and the idea of ‘wearing’ your sexuality. This message attached to textiles is very important to me.
Throughout this project I wanted my work to say something and tell a story. Banners have long been associated with protests and Trade Unions, pieces designed are intended to connect their traditional purpose of highlighting solidarity and unity alongside my own more contemporary messages.
Through reusing and repurposing textiles I have used patchwork in order to recycle remnants to create my final pieces. My use of intricate beadwork and hand embroidery is significant as this adds a personal handwriting to these, supporting the story I am telling.
I see my collection as textile art pieces with a purpose to challenge conformity.
Sappho Magazine
The magazine ‘Sappho’ is well recorded in the Glasgow Women’s Library archives. The first issue of Sappho, a magazine for lesbian readers, was published in April 1972 and represented a diverse, cross-class community. For this fabric magazine I focused on Sappho as it really stood out to me as a significant part of Lesbian History; it helped a lot of people understand themselves and feel accepted in the early 70s.
Collection of Lesbian Badges
Badges tie into the idea of wearing your sexuality. They are part of an additional collection aimed to view my work through a different context; focusing around a lesbian scout uniform. The uniform was born from the Lesbian archives which was found to be a running theme in the archival magazine illustrations.
