Ali is an award winning mixed-media artist, writer and workshop facilitator, focusing on free motion embroidery as an art form, exploring the sewing machine as a tool for ‘drawing’ or ‘painting.’ She exhibits and sells artwork internationally, works on private and public commissions and has taught art to people of all ages for over twenty years.
Working with different mediums and techniques, including textiles, painting, drawing and photography, I find inspiration in stories; colour; a line of a song or the feel of a piece of music; creatures shaped by shadow that appear suddenly in commonplace objects; daydreams; moments of thought, place and time that reveal an intimacy and vulnerability. Exploring everyday experiences and symbolism, I seek to create a personal connection to my imagination through visual storytelling, but to also leave the narrative open for the viewer.
Working mostly with sewn full size and partial figures, including installation and animation, I leave loose hanging threads that make them seem as though they are drifting-off into a dreamlike state, highlighting the passing of time. The work exists in that hazy place between consciousness and sub-consciousness; dreams and reality. There is a certain ambiguity to my work as each piece reveals only a fragment of their subject; the loose strands adding to their sense of incompletion, imperfection and impermanence. Indeed, machine embroidery itself is an art form that dwells somewhere betwixt two and three-dimensional states, a breach of one sphere to another, creating a tactile sensuousness.
Keep up-to-date with my creative journey on my Instagram feed
Find out more about my art practice in this short film in collaboration with StudionAme: