Sandra Wyman

Hand-dyed fabric quilted with many lines. A thin dark tree trunk along the left edge branches into autumn leaves. Much of the rest of the image is covered by stitched text that looks like handwriting. It reads: When the police came to the house it was only because the neighbours reported disturbances. Domestic abuse at that time was a subject for jokes. It has taken over sixty years before I felt able to talk about it openly.

Sandra Wyman

I am a disabled artist working with textiles and mixed media.

 My superpower is synaesthesia: a jumbling up of senses in which I experience sounds, letters, numbers, smells in colour.

Sewing and creating fabrics using various printing and dyeing techniques forms a basis for stitching, a process which for me is essentially meditative.  My work is mainly autobiographical or centred on personal symbols.

I retired from teaching and trade union activity in my mid forties. But I am still a political activist, working on disability issues within the Labour Party both locally and nationally.

Twitter: @sandra_wyman

The dragonfly in shades of blue fills the frame, with mosaic-like wings. Even the background is made of squares of different blues, with faint outlines of bugs and insects.
Dragonfly
On the right are portraits of the artist’s great grandmother, grandmother and mother; on the left different stages in her own life. Written accounts form the background, only partly readable – the way history is. The two sides are divided by a spiral from top to bottom, like the DNA double helix.
Not Just DNA
An osprey flies with spread wings across the centre of this quilt. From below, the details of its feathers are sharp. The dark blue sky is turbulent. Tie-dyed circles in vertical lines decorate the side edges.
Clarach
Hand-dyed fabric quilted with many lines. A thin dark tree trunk along the left edge branches into autumn leaves. Much of the rest of the image is covered by stitched text that looks like handwriting. It reads: When the police came to the house it was only because the neighbours reported disturbances. Domestic abuse at that time was a subject for jokes. It has taken over sixty years before I felt able to talk about it openly.
Turning Ugly
Image descriptions:

Dragonfly
The dragonfly in shades of blue fills the frame, with mosaic-like wings. Even the background is made of squares of different blues, with faint outlines of bugs and insects.

Not Just DNA
On the right are portraits of the artist’s great grandmother, grandmother and mother; on the left different stages in her own life. Written accounts form the background, only partly readable – the way history is. The two sides are divided by a spiral from top to bottom, like the DNA double helix.

Clarach
An osprey flies with spread wings across the centre of this quilt. From below, the details of its feathers are sharp. The dark blue sky is turbulent. Tie-dyed circles in vertical lines decorate the side edges.

Turning Ugly
Hand-dyed fabric quilted with many lines. A thin dark tree trunk along the left edge branches into autumn leaves. Much of the rest of the image is covered by stitched text that looks like handwriting. It reads: When the police came to the house it was only because the neighbours reported disturbances. Domestic abuse at that time was a subject for jokes. It has taken over sixty years before I felt able to talk about it openly.

Who are DISrupt?

Michelle Duxbury, Amelia Baron, Ashley Ferrari, Emily Uttley, Emma Bentley Fox, Gill Crawshaw, Jem Clancy, Jude Woods, Judit Wilson, Kirsty Ramsay Hogan, Nicole Murmann, Sam Metz, Sandra Wyman, Sarah Francis, Vickie Orton and more…

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© DISrupt Arts Leeds 2021. Copyright of any artwork shared on our website remains with the named artist. Please do not reproduce any artwork without the written permission of the artist. All right reserved.