Inspired by colourful flowers, Memory Garden invites audiences to contemplate the relationship between textiles and gardening. Both practices reflect different forms of growth and a process of slowing down as it takes time for a garden to grow or a weaving to take shape.

Charlton’s three-part textile installation was woven by hand. It explores the capacity for textiles and gardens to store memories. Our sense of smell is closely linked with emotion and memory. Textiles similarly forge a deep relationship within our lives, such as the memory of pattern print or the feeling of a loved one’s clothing.

Being surrounded by textiles throughout our lives leads to a tactile knowledge of textiles as a material. The installation also references distinctively smelling flora, rendered in thread, expressing a harmony of flowers and fibre.

Cecilia Charlton is a London-based American artist. She creates hand-made embroideries and weavings that engage with the histories of abstract painting to explore a range of themes including memory and the subconscious.

Memory Garden was commissioned in 2023 by The Garden Museum in London. It is presented as part of our Colours Uncovered season at Harewood House.