Fibre with a Difference: Nui Project

Sandra Brownlee introduced me to the Nui Project 1 and 2 books during a visit to her studio last summer. Sandra had prepared for my visit with piles of books to show me, plus examples of her own work both inside and out. I've written about Sandra before and I'll write more about this remarkable woman another time. When I returned home to Ontario, the Nui Project images and story were still dancing in my head (no visions of sugar plums for me) so I ordered both books from Yoshiko Wada's website. Like my posts about Judith Scott and Hannelore Baron, it is difficult to convey my deep admiration for the intuitive textile work of the Nui Project participants. The Nui Project is a group of male and female textile artists who have intellectual disabilities and live in a facility called Shobu Gakuen in Kagoshima, Japan. The Nui Project textile artists embroider ready-made shirts to be sold as commercial products and the results are spectacular. The shirts aren't all wearable but function more as remarkable sculptural objects. Each artist has his or her own distinct style.


The top textile is by Atsushi Yoshimoto and is on the cover of the Nui Project 1 book; the middle image of the shirt is by Mikio Hamada and a coordinator (image found in Nui Project 1 book, page 22); the bottom shirt is by Naoki Fujimura and Aki Nozawa and the image is found in Nui Project 2, page 38.


For more information and images about this project check out these websites:
http://www.shobu.jp/artists.html
http://handeyemagazine.com/content/able-embroiderers

http://artfoundout.blogspot.com/search/label/Nui%20Project