RAW
RIVER ART WALK, LONDON
​Hanging By A thread 1, 2026
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Christine Teeling and Label Hjem present their latest piece within RAW River Art Walk at Bainbridge Uncovered, The Handbag Factory, SE1, Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd March.
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This collaborative work articulates a shared desire to challenge systems and value perception embedded within the fashion industry and to explore alternative narratives around consumption and waste.
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The deconstructed shirt is repurposed as a canvas for screen printing and hand painting with natural dyes. The colour, extracted and applied using traditional techniques introduces a slower, more mindful approach to making and enables the material to embody an alternative purpose.
The panel has been delicately suspended within the bounds of a frame, stretched out and decontextualised. It now feels illuminated and somewhat vulnerable in the separation from it’s kin panels, emphasising both the fragility and transformation of this once cherished item. Literally hanging by threads, the piece holds tension and a sense of unease.
The original garment, like much of contemporary textiles, is composed of a blended fibre mix, cotton and polyester. These blends reflect the realities of modern textile production and present challenges when working with natural dyes, which typically bond with fibres of a wholly natural origin such as cellulose or protein.
What began as an experiment evolved into a deeper exploration of material. While Christine’s work is typically centres on cellulose based fabrics, working with blended textile mixes posed no limitation, only opportunity to experiment. The material responded in it's own way, producing subtle variations and inconsistencies in colour, texture and absorption that contribute to the individuality of the work.
Christine’s practice has been shaped by a shift from synthetic, chemically derived colour to natural sources, embracing seasonality, natural rhythm and tradition. Working directly with nature introduces unpredictability, collaboration and responsiveness to the environment, qualities that are integral to her work.
The process is patient and intuitive, allowing colour to emerge through interaction and layering, each contributing to the overall visual landscape. Natural dyes work harmoniously, creating a balance while responding uniquely to the material and to each other. From dye extraction to painting and printmaking, the process inspires a contemplative connection with nature.
Led by the existing, Label Hjem allows found material to evoke a creative workflow. Working solely with post-consumer items brings an unexpectedness to the practice of reworking and highlights abundant possibilities for alternative sourcing and layered processing including colour application, leading organically to a collaboration with Christine.
At the centre of this piece is a reflection on value, materially, culturally and ecologically. It invites the viewer to reconsider ideas of waste in the current age of disposability. Textiles were once treasured and passed down through generations loved, lived in, worked in and repaired. Every stage of this garment’s life, from the growing and harvesting of fibres to spinning, treatment, weaving, cutting and construction, carries the energy, labour and skill of both nature and human. Reframed, the piece offers an invitation to relook at the things we own.
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