Coal Seams
2021
Coal Seams (2021)
Commissioned for the British Textile Biennial
In Coal Seams, artist Richard McVetis explores the profound relationship between textiles and coal—two materials central to the Industrial Revolution and deeply embedded in his personal and family history. Created for the British Textile Biennial, the work responds to the biennial’s focus on the global impact of textiles and Lancashire’s role in industrialisation.
Inspired by Robert Macfarlane’s Underland, McVetis turned his attention to the hidden landscapes beneath our feet. Using geological maps of historical coal seams, he traced the layered histories of labour, industry, and migration. Coal Seams is a hand-embroidered map, rendered in black thread on white wool flannel—materials chosen for their symbolic and personal resonance. Cotton and coal, emblematic of the Industrial Age, are stitched together to map out these interconnected narratives.
The work is rooted in McVetis’s own family story. His ancestors fled persecution in Lithuania and settled in Scotland, finding work in the Lady Victoria Colliery. Over generations, they assimilated into British society—at times under pressure, such as when a schoolteacher added the “Mc” prefix to the family name. His father began mining at the age of 16 and worked for four decades across Scotland, Staffordshire, and South Africa, where McVetis was born during apartheid. This legacy underscores how coal is inextricably tied to power, class, migration, and colonialism.
Measuring 120 x 75 cm, Coal Seams took three months to complete, with each month symbolising 100 million years—compressing 300 million years of geological time into a slow, meditative act of making. The repetitive nature of embroidery reflects the endurance and labour of both mining and textile work—disciplines defined by physical effort, rhythm, and time.
The title Coal Seams operates as a dual reference: to the geological strata beneath the earth’s surface and the stitched lines that hold garments together. Influenced by Lewis Dartnell’s writing, McVetis frames the Earth as an active agent in our collective story. In this work, material becomes message—revealing not just the past, but a map of what lies ahead.
Cotton on wool, hand embroidery, seeding and couching stitch, heat transfer printing.
Archive material original documents
75 x 115cm
