Originally from Berlin, London based artist Jess De Wahls has long established herself as the ‘Enfant Terrible Of Textile Art’.

Jess creates highly intricate hand-stitched embroideries as well as hand-sewn relief portraits from up-cycled clothing, a technique for which she has coined the term ‘Retex Sculpture’.

Couching subjects including feminism, misogyny, fetishism and gender ideology amidst delicate imagery of flowers and lush botanics, she skilfully invites her audience on a journey to discover underlying narratives, hidden and not-so-hidden truths.

Pushing the boundaries of what embroidery as a medium can contribute to the fine arts plays a major part in her prolific output. Her extensive body of work has been exhibited and sold internationally, including at Tate Modern.

In 2019 she created the embroidery piece titled ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Something Went Terribly Wrong’ and published a companion essay. Its impact would be life changing: ostracisation; an attempted cancelation by the Royal Academy of Arts; public outcry; becoming an unintended vanguard of the culture wars; a two week-long major news story in the national press; all culminating in an apology from the RA and public backdown.

The saga would come full circle after being invited to exhibit in the Royal Academy Summer Show.