Plinth

"I love Althea McNish’s colour sense, the painterliness of her work, her vision and amazing approach to light. The colours she used in her fabrics jump around in the sunshine, but they also zing against the grey streets, then and now. When I was invited by The William Morris Gallery and Liberty Fabrics to do this commission, I was very careful not to culturally appropriate. Instead I wanted to interact with her fabric, to capture its nuances, folds, textures and its truth. I liked the idea of using new technology and used a scanner and my own hand as a way to touch history and record it by touch. I did a lot of scanning with my hands, different forms and fabrics. I was excited by the ways they all translated but I loved the pinks and blacks within Jump Up. I wanted to create something as vibrant as Althea was and I also liked the idea of a black woman, my hand representing black women, interacting with another black woman’s work. It was almost like me physically putting her in the picture, or saying hello to her."
Rita Keegan