Georgina Maxim | Telling Moments

‘Telling Moments’ presents mixed media textile artist Georgina Maxim’s first solo exhibition in London. The show – produced in collaboration with 31 Project Gallery – focuses on time and recollection, reflecting the significance of how time is used, accumulated and valued. This follows her inclusion in the group show ‘Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art’ at the Barbican which will travel to the Stedelijk Museum in September.

Maxim’s practice is grounded in the style of sewing and mending referred to as ‘dhunge mutunge’ in Shona. This is a stitch used for putting things together quickly so that they hold. It has been used for generations to create a temporary hold on torn items, often using a thread that did not match the colour or texture of the garment. It is also seen as a stitch for closing scars. Coupled with weaving, crocheting and knitting, Maxim builds her mixed media pieces through this contextually rich gesture of bringing textiles, kinship, and temporality together.

‘Telling Moments’ focuses on time and recollection, reflecting the significance of how time it is used, accumulated and valued. Maxim considers the labour of cutting and sewing as an act consumes the clock. However, it is also an act of construction and memory-making, one that enables the search for herself and her mother.