Joy Pitts

Turning 1000s of rag clothing labels into works of art.

About Joy

“My practice is an original fine art concept that reconfigures the woven label. The work is constantly negotiating the boundaries between the process of making (craft) and understanding life through material (fine art). I have developed my own language by unpicking 30,000 used labels from rag garments. The used labels are organised into colour and size groups and assembled in images using only dressmaker pins.

I continue to collaborate with Savile Row tailors, using thousands of bespoke labels to create historic portraits from their archive. I also commission my own woven labels using information from historic events and assemble them in contemporary images.”

High Street Landscape with Black Swan

In this portrait of a black swan 1000s of unwanted clothing labels are substituted for the 25000 feathers usually produced by a single bird. The landscape reveals a history of the High Street with rag clothing labels arranged from light to dark to represent the sky and water. Black plumage is applied en masse using labels in reverse; fine detail is added with smaller size labels around the long S-shaped neck and red bill. See if you can spot the designer labels and Savile Row tailors amongst the familiar textures of the High Street.