Interview with Llinos Owen

conducted by Carolina Castilho

“I am 24 years old. I’m living with three cats, but really I’m a dog person. My dog, which is now my family’s dog because I moved out, is called Olive. It probably sounds cheesy, but it gives me joy to be able to do the work that I’m doing now … Aside from being an artist, it’s definitely going to festivals, gigs, seeing live music, being able to let loose and enjoy with my friends … I always look forward to that throughout the year.”

I’ve always had an interest in textiles, every time I was doing sketchbooking or any type of work apart from textile I would always have textile samples or drawing with thread. And then when I was at university I studied Painting, and during that time I decided to explore with textiles a bit more, doing embroidery and stuff like that. During my final year, the pandemic started and I went back home, and because I didn’t have access to the facilities or the studio space I started doing research on different techniques and things I could do from home, and that’s how I found the technique that I’m working with now. So yeah, because I had all that time during lockdown I was able to teach myself how to do it and fell in love with the making of it. During the lockdown was the point where I was like “Alright, I’m a textile artist, this is what I want to do”, and I’ve been doing it since then.

It’s so fresh the way you almost paint everyday life with textiles. How did you come up with this concept?

So the concept came to life quite naturally, I’ve always been the type of person to keep a diary and write down different moments, and during the pandemic I was writing a lot more frequently, and I was writing a lot about mental health and anxiety, and also about losing out on my youth and stuff like that. Which I know may sound a bit dramatic! But then when I finished my degree and had a lot of time to do what I wanted to do, it just came naturally that what I was writing about made its way into my practice. Which I feel like happened with a lot of artists at the time, I was seeing a lot of selfportrait type of works.

Could you expand a little bit more on the connection between your writing and your art?

Right, so as I was saying writing has always been a part of my life, but I’ve never really written for it to be seen by anybody else, it’s always just been for my own head and just to write down personal moments that I want to remember. But then it just naturally evolved from there … So all those things about me and my identity and moments in my life have moved into the textile works, so I see it all as a form of selfportraiture, really.

How do you make each piece? How do you go from your first idea to the finished product?

So the process starts with the writing, and then I’ll look back through a collection of writings which could be from a few days ago, a year… And although the textile piece is what everybody sees, drawing is also really important for my practice. I keep a sketchbook which I always have with me, and if I see a picture, a person, anything that I find interesting I’ll either write it down or sketch it down quickly. So after I revisit my diary and find a concept that I want to convey in the textiles, I’ll go through my sketchbook and the different drawings I’ve collected, and I sort of collage everything in order to form the narrative that I want to convey in the tapestry. And once I find a composition that I’m happy with, I ‘ll move on to the materials, draw and then use my punch needle in order to draw the design with the textile materials. It’s almost like a painting, but with textile material.

How do you see your career evolving and what are some goals you would like to achieve as an artist?

My main goal that I would like to achieve as an artist is to just be able to keep creating the works that I want to create, that I’m happy creating and that I enjoy creating, and to be able to continue working with different artists, galleries and curators. Talking just about textile work, my goal every year is to up the scale. I’ve just moved into a studio now, so I’m excited to use the space to create bigger pieces. I’ve been creating a lot of works based on clubs, nightlife scenes, etc., so I think the next step in my career would be to collaborate with an artist that is within that world or to collaborate with a venue or an organization that is linked with the nightlife scene. I think the next step for me is to reach out a bit more and collaborate.

Where do you draw inspiration from? Is there a specific artist that has been particularly influential in your art?

Well, with my writing and the works that I’m doing now, related to the club scene, when I go out I find a lot of inspiration there. Artist-wise, I’m always looking at different textile artists that I follow on my social media. I feel really lucky to be based in London, as I’m surrounded by so many amazing galleries and there’s always new exhibitions happening and openings, and I try my best to go to those events because I always leave feeling really inspired. Some artists that come to mind when I think about who inspires me are Anya Paintsil, who is a textile artist who works with a punch needle, similar to me. And Erin Riley, who is a weaver. Both of them work with similar themes, related to identity and life experiences, and Erin’ work often refers to her journal and vulnerable subject matters that you could find in somebody’s diary. They’re huge inspirations to me, and then because I have a background in painting I’m also heavily inspired by it. My textile works are very much inspired by figurative painting, portraiture, …

So I’m always looking at new painters, and I went to a show very recently of a painter called Seline Burn, called Mother and Thistle, and it was one of the best shows I’ve been to. Her paintings are just so detailed, and she is a huge inspiration to me at the moment. But the main artist that I always say inspires my practice is Lydia Blakeley, and she has a specific piece that I always go back to, called The Pony Club, which depicts a group of women in which one of them is about to puke, and she’s crouched down and they’re all wearing heels and dresses and it’s just a group of girls looking after each other and holding each other’s hair, and that image came from a tabloid image that was related to an article shaming these women on their behavior and for being drunk and on a night out. And so the artist has reclaimed the image and made it into a painting that is celebrating female friendships and changing a negative narrative into something really relatable. So yeah, I always go back to that painting, especially when my work is inspired by parties and clubs.

What is something that you have learned since you began your career that you would like to share with fellow artists?

The main lesson I’ve learned, I think, it’s to try not to compare your success as an artist with everybody else’s around you, whether it’s in art school or on Instagram, which is people’s constant high points and successes, and obviously it’s such an important tool for artists today. I think it should be important to remember that everybody’s ambitions and ideas are different, and the advice I would give, as cheesy as it sounds, it to just keep creating the works that you want to create and enjoy making them, and not make your work to fit in with whatever seems to be successful on Instagram or wherever you show your work. Your work will stand out if you have passion for it and enthusiasm to create, and I feel like all artists should remember that your passion has longevity whereas a successful Instagram post of your work will often be forgotten about in a few days. That’s what I try to remember, if something isn’t as successful as I want it to be online, it doesn’t matter.