Story Telling Coat Lesley Illingworth

 From an idea on a degree course to The Upper waiting Hall of the House of Commons, The Story Telling coat has been created and started its journey in the world. Telling people that embroidered textiles still tell stories and carry important messages for the world to see.

 Starting out as a patchwork made from an interior design sample book. The substrate of the coat has multiple layers of textures created to give a royal ceremonial appearance. It was patched, dyed, printed, painted and written on ,then further embellished with hand embroidered panels.

 Having been completed in 2016, it appeared in Shoddy an exhibition curated by Gill Crawshaw in Leeds. That year it traveled to London and was in a 2hr guerilla exhibition in Tate Modern called  Arts4Rights organised by DPAC and the PAC Union. A close up was used by Frances Ryan in a review in the Observer in April 26.

It was shown in the Universal Discredit show in 2021 organised by DPAC and the Unite union.

In Hastings Museum and Art Gallery from Sepr 23 to Jan 24. in

Stored Out of Sight: Hidden history of Disabled People curated by Curating for Change.

It was shown in my solo exhibition Artists and Disability Oppression: Up Close and Intensive at the Brewery Tap UCA project gallery in March 2023.

and then in The Houses of Parliament in March 2024 in the Artists and Disability Oppression: Up Close and Intensive exhibition.

Then in the DAiSY Chain Artists Exhibition in the Lightbox art Gallery in Guildford in July and Aug 2024. and the 

Connections Daisy chain Conference in Nov 2025.

It has also been used as inspiration for a workshop for Bloomin Arts and as inspiration for a PHD student at U W Seattle as dissertation research for their Disability Justice in Theatre Education