Lauren Godfrey chats with art historian and curator Dr Zoé Whitley about pattern as rebellion, making clothes with her grandmother and channelling her favourite musicians through patterns.
Zoé is director of the well loved Chisenhale Gallery, a gem in the London gallery scene as a space that champions creativity and helps facilitate artists making new work on a grand scale. Before joining Chisenhale in 2020, she worked on exhibitions, research and collections at The Hayward, The V and A, and the TATE where she co curated the exhibition Soul of A Nation: Art In The Age of Black Power which went on to tour internationally. She also curated Cathy Wilkes’ presentation at the 2019 British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and was a Turner Prize judge in 2021. Zoe undertook a Masters in History of Design at the Royal College of Art alongside the V and A, focusing on representations of Blackness in Vogue Magazine in the UK, US and France.
Zoé has chosen a veritable feast of pattern including striped sweatpants from Erykah Badu’s world market, a Vlisco Dutch Wax hall of fame, A Stella Jean dress with typewriters all over it, a floral Versace monogram silk, a Moroccan Boucheruite rug and a Viviers Studio ostrich claw napkin! You can see all of Zoé’s patterns and more on instagram @patternportraitspodcast
‘Caszh With Zhuzh’ - The PATTERN PORTRAIT print artwork to accompany Zoé’s interview and featuring the patterns we discuss is available to buy now at www.laurengodfrey.co.uk
References:
Kaye Spilker / Sharon Takeda - Curator / Head of Costume at Textiles at LACMA
Yinka Shonibare - Dysfunctional Family (1999) / Sir Foster Cunliffe, Playing (2007)
Lisa Left Eye Lopes - Hat 2 Da Back
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