Award-winning fashion designer and artist Matty Bovan is the name behind NOW Gallery’s 2022 fashion commission. His show, Ribbons, sees a giant, hand-knitted jumper erected inside the gallery space. Visitors are invited to climb inside the multicoloured, tent-like structure and take a seat on a tufted rug. Once swaddled within it, your task is to contemplate the fashion and textiles industries. Can this intricate structure shift people’s perceptions of the industry? Regardless, this is immersive art in the most literal sense of the term, and unlike other experiences with a similar billing, it’s free to come and enjoy, writes Holly O’Mahony…
“I’m ready to invite people into a multisensory world of epic scale,” said Yorkshire-born Matty Bovan of his work. Taught how to knit by his grandmother when he was just 11 years old, the young designer has gone on to receive a number of impressive awards, including the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award and the LVMH Graduate Prize. He’s also worked with giants of the fashion world including Miu Miu, Marc Jacobs and Swarovski.
As the exhibition name suggests, ‘ribbon’ takes centre stage here. “Ribbon is usually used as a trim or flourish in fashion and craft; here I am taking the idea of a small-scale, somewhat apologetic trim, and blowing it up with full brute force of energy and hardcore craft,” Matty says.
There will also be a chance for people to get involved with interactive show elements designed to illustrate the importance – and fun – of craft and making things yourself.
For curator Jemima Burrill, getting Matty to stage a show at NOW Gallery is real coup. “I was determined to get Matty. He had been on my radar for a while and his work grabbed my attention during lockdown,” she says. “Sitting in bed watching the London Fashion Week presentation… Matty burnt a hole in my retina. The film he created was nothing like anything I had seen before. It struck a nerve and made fashion exciting again even at the bleakest hour,” she adds, praising the “blazing colour” found in his “sculptural” work.
“His pitch for the exhibition was so clear and simple. and so perfect for our unusual gallery space: a large jumper… knitted out of ribbon. There is something brilliantly democratic about this and it also so specifically echoes his work: bold and brash with a feminine edge.”
Matty’s revered video work also plays a part in Ribbons. Once sat inside the installation, visitors can watch the artist’s latest film, also called Ribbons, which weaves the story of the jumper’s creation with a secondary narrative.
Meanwhile, lending the exhibition a multisensory edge is a soundscape and the comforting scents of geranium and lavender.
With the exhibition not launching until next week, Jemima is understandably keen to hold back the finer details. When pushed, she describes the artist’s designs as “flamboyant with an introverted twist. [His designs] are thoughtful and wild. [He uses] materials with a clear end to make really beautiful clothes, where craft ignites the fashion conversation. His palette is wide and he brings the materiality of his collections to the exhibition.”
Helping install the ambitious project is design company Interesting Projects. “They bring the whole thing alive and make it possible. Christopher Kelly Design made the frame for the jumper and working with fabricators like this means that Matty’s ideas are discussed, honed and become apparent,” Jemima explains.
While designed to make visitors stop and contemplate the craft that goes into making clothes, Jemima insists the exhibition is ultimately about finding joy in the unexpected. “The overgrown jumper becomes a symbol for all to take some time and enjoy an intimate space that Matty has created,” she says.
This feeds into the wider purpose of the gallery’s annual fashion commission, too. “I always want people to realise that fashion designers don’t just create garments, they have wider imaginations,” Jemima says. “We give them the space to come up with a unique project, something unexpected that people can come away from with an understanding of how creativity can work in so many ways.”
Ribbons is showing at NOW Gallery, The Gateway Pavilions, Peninsula Square, Soames Walk, London SE10 0SQ. November 30 – February 20, Tuesday – Friday 10am – 7pm; Saturday 10am – 5pm; Sunday 11am – 4pm. Admission: FREE. www.nowgallery.co.uk/
Ribbons: Immersive exhibition takes gallery goers inside a giant jumper
