Frankie Fathers

About

Frankie Fathers is a London-based multidisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose practice weaves between sculpture, installation and film, using textile to explore identity, myth and loss through a feminist and absurdist lens.

She stitches debates around the female body and identity into the very fabric of her work. Playful and profound, flippant and forceful, her practice engages the language of fibres and dichotomies to create a visual juxtaposition of the familiar and the fantastical. She creates enigmatic characters that draw on ancient mythology to exist forcefully between states; both in their own body and in that of a mythical animal. This duality adds a complex dimension to her work, inviting viewers to contemplate the dynamics between personal and ancient myth.

The artist chooses to source donated clothing from friends and family for its intimate connection with the human body and the subjective symbolism of different textures. The morphing of the clothes into fantastical forms is influenced by numerous tales of metamorphosis which lie at the heart of myth. Technology changes, but human behaviour does not, and the themes at the heart of the artist’s work speak to the enduring appeal of ancient myths.

Frankie is also a co-founder of the Campervan Collective, a group of international experimental artists who met at the Royal College of Art and are committed to public art practice and collaboration. The Campervan Collective explores the concept of boundaries by staging interactive performances and public workshops from a blue vintage campervan. Parking on the margins, borders, and edges of the art world, the Collective’s aim is to make art accessible to all and question the visibility, nature, and impact of boundaries.

Alongside her art practice, Frankie is also a BAFTA-winning documentary producer/director.