Seeking, digging, sifting, mapping, discarding, collating and labelling are visual artist Vanessa Rolf’s attempts to understand our world. She traces, cuts and stitches paper and cloth to embed codified shapes and marks that unearth stories. The materials of unpicked and reworked cloth and wool felt speak a familiar tactile language.
Seemingly small, mundane or insignificant moments, objects or places are memorialised: protective pockets hold iron age flints, absent inherited objects are cut from felt, the repetition of mothering becomes a diary of stitched marks, the names of ships sunk in battle are listed on German linen, global textile production is translated into patchwork cartograms. Vanessa’s work asks… Who generates these operating systems? Who do they serve? Who are the absent spectres in the archive? How do they speak to us between the curated boxed objects, the maps and the record cards?
Her work has been shared in exhibitions, is part of national collections and has been created in response to commissions. Vanessa studied at the Royal College of Art. Vanessa is a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists, a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art in 2017. She lives and works in Winchester, UK.
Alongside her art practice, for 20 years Vanessa has been working in historic buildings, schools, pupil referral units, hospices, refugee centres and art galleries to make as a collective act of enquiry, agency and community building. Her skills bring people together and gently direct the focus, forging new pathways.
Vanessa founded and directed ReachOutRCA, the Royal College of Art’s engagement programme. She initiated National Saturday Art Club at Winchester School of Art and was part of the Engagement team at John Hansard Gallery, Southampton. Vanessa has consulted on engagement practices for Turner Sims Music Concert Hall, Making Space, Royal College of Art Research and The Crafts Council. She has worked with BA and MA level students at Winchester School of Art, Chichester University, Southampton Solent, Chelsea College of Art and Design (UAL), and University of the Creative Arts, Farnham.