My name is Lauren Matthews (she/her) and I am a multidisciplinary artist living on unceded Wadawurrung Land in Regional Victoria, Australia.

I engage in practice-led research and work on projects using the tradition of craft practice to generate social change through the tenacity of materials. My practice explores domestic dichotomies and social issues, from the intensity of trauma to creating works that challenge patriarchal assumptions and the culture of owning and collecting objects.

Whilst I am an emerging artist, I have come to art later in life and have recently turned 40, so I bring with me a wealth of knowledge from working across multiple fields as an advocate. I also live with mental illness.

In 2021 I completed my Honours in Fine Arts at Federation University Ballarat exploring the topic ‘(TEXT)iles: How feminist artists communicate survival messages through material thinking’.

I am currently a PhD Candidate at Federation University exploring the topic ‘Survival Memories: How representing and naming incest survival could challenge taboos, influence public discourse and ideologies, and contribute to social change through the history and tenacity of textiles’.

My practice is very personal and explores my childhood experiences. I have limited recollection of being a child because of the incest and childhood sexual abuse inflicted on me from an early age. As a result of this trauma, I experienced dissociative amnesia as a way of helping me feel safe.

Not only does my background provide me with a unique voice, the materials and methods I use, embroidering and hand-quilting, which are predominately viewed as ‘craft’ based allow me to provide a public demonstration of what is often a private domestic art form. My practice builds on the rich tradition of feminist artists who articulate their trauma through text, textiles and DIY principles.

Creating has allowed me to release frustration and transfer private pain into the public sphere. My work is deeply personal and moves the taboo subject matter from private spaces, locked rooms and silenced voices to a visceral scream – a push and pull between perpetrator and survivor. I create my work to generate discussion and ultimately social change.