Charlie Clayton

Charlie Clayton is a multidisciplinary artist who uses textiles, sculpture, embroidery, and digital media to explore themes of the uncanny, the curious, personal placement, and play. They are inspired by the works of Ernesto Neto, Annalisa Bollini, Guillermo del Toro, and Adam James, and believe that the main driving force behind the work that they create is a desire to playfully explore, communicate, and interpret the seen and unseen worlds around themselves in a sustainability conscious way.

“Those family ties will hold you” is an exploration of familial relationships rendered in textiles, embroidery, and beadwork. The work is composed of two textile sculptures leaning away from one another, seemingly supported by threads that are beginning to fray. The sculpture explores the fragility of family ties, whether they hold us up or back, and the tensions that stop these relationships falling apart or being free of one another. Mending stitches feature throughout the piece, signifying the ways in which we try to mend and heal ourselves as we grow.