23/09/2026
Linen Landscapes Exhibition by Zoe Victoria Gibson
at R-Space Gallery Lisburn until Saturday 3rd October
Artist Statement
During my architectural education, I became fascinated with landscape and ecology. A large portion of my methodology, and later architectural teaching practice became focused on how best to represent landscape through drawing, textures, media, objects, and later - embroidery. Embroidery has always been prevalent in my family. My Granny was a seamstress and often completed curtain, dress making and other houseware goods from her sewing room. My mum is also exceptionally gifted with knitting and needlepoint, and therefore textiles have been a part of my childhood for as long as I can remember.
Linen Landscapes were developed out of a labour of love for representing landscape on fabric, canvas, and other textile-based offcuts. Part of my Masters Thesis explored texture of landscape on canvases using threads as opposed to traditional canvas-based mediums (paint, oil, pastel etc), and these were highly commended as a unique contribution to architectural analysis of landscape. I have always treated my surface of choice as a grid, and upon purchasing my first bulk of deadstock linen from a local artist, my canvas literally changed towards an embroidery hoop and linen fibres.
I choose locations to embroider based on what they mean to me. My initial landscape embroideries were places which were close to home, and upon sharing these with friends and family, and eventually on social media, my sources of inspiration grew from there. Memories of place, and aerial imagery play a large part in my practice. I look at the linen fibres as a blank tapestry, through which I have the ability to reimagine them as a Linen Landscape. Each landscape could take anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks to complete, but this is due to the complex weaving of stitches, the attention to detail of key recognisable portions of landscape, and honestly, balancing other work commitments!
My work, to visitors, encourages them to revisit places that they are familiar with, or perhaps have never ventured, and discover a new relationship with landscape through linen-based artwork.
