Coco WA Studio
Coco WA is a multi-media artist, born and raised in London, who combines fine art with craft. Her textile practise values community at its core, with craft and humour being used as a tool to aid healing from the late-capitalist patriarchal society that we live in.
Coco WA uses embroidery in her practise to communicate personal thoughts and bigger social issues. She began embroidery during lockdown as a mode to calm and heal from stressors and haven’t been able to put down the needle since. WA believes that embroidery and needlework have great benefits for mental health and it is intertwined with the collective history of women all over the globe. Coco WA also holds embroidery classes in multiple spaces around London.
Taking on a diarist format, WA specifically explores female identity and traditional concepts of femininity, often exploiting the delicacy and domesticity of embroidery, beading and knitting by producing pieces that watch the spectator back, denying voyeurism and passivity. She subverts the traditional use of embroidery as a mode to keep women with their hands busy and minds idle. Through her work, WA aims to reclaim and modernise the female history of textiles and embroidery by engaging in a larger social commentary of what society expects from women, to be sweet, demure and docile.
