Past Event
Whitechapel Gallery is committed to making all of our exhibitions as accessible as possible for every visitor. Please contact access@whitechapelgallery.org if you would like to discuss a particular request and we will gladly discuss with you the best way to accommodate it.
For complete access information about the gallery, please visit here.
30 October – 2 November
11.30am – 5.30pm daily
Loose Threads by Jasmin Bhanji is a participatory artwork inspired by Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey. During October half-term, Whitechapel Gallery’s Assembly Room will be draped floor to ceiling in hessian fabric, inviting you to sew, stick or tape creative interventions.
You can choose to stand, sit, or work on the floor to find your own comfortable way to engage. The activity is supported by gallery assistants, who will be on hand to help you get started and ensure materials are used safely.
Loose Threads is designed as an intergenerational activity, welcoming groups in all their forms. Whether you come with children, friends, or chosen family, you’re invited to contribute to this shared artwork. While the activity is accessible for younger participants, it has been designed to appeal to all ages, from toddlers and children to teenagers and adults. The loose weave of the fabric allows for easy stitching for all levels of experience.
Jasmin Bhanji is a contemporary artist and sculptor whose practice is deeply rooted in community engagement and education. Working across schools, museums, and cultural institutions, she facilitates inclusive, process-led workshops that explore contemporary art in meaningful and accessible ways.
Jasmin majored in Ceramics with a minor in Plastics and remained in Brighton to work at Quentin Bell’s studio at Charleston Farmhouse, near Firle. After moving back to London, she spent 15 years as a studio potter,first at Kate Malone’s studio on Balls Pond Road, then establishing Glebe Road Studios in Dalston with Rachel Kneebone. In 2012, she relocated to Nairobi, Kenya, where she set up a studio and worked as an art teacher in an international primary and secondary school.
Committed to art making as a collaborative and transformative process, Jasmin completed a PGCE in Art and Design (UCL) 2001 and a Foundation in Art Psychotherapy 2004 (Goldsmiths). She later returned to London to complete an MA in Art and Design Education (distinction) at UCL. Since graduating in 2018, her studio practice has been dedicated to researching learning methodologies in art education, with a focus on embodied, performative, and material process-lead-approaches.
Jasmin has worked with a range of institutions across the UK, including Van Gogh House, Stockwell; Milton Keynes’-Art and Us programme; Whitechapel Gallery; Charterhouse Museum; HRP Tower of London; and the Estorick Collection. As a socially engaged artist, she collaborates with communities to explore art and ideas collectively, challenging traditional hierarchies of knowledge and making.
She is currently the artist-in-residence at Arts and Media School Islington, a placement awarded by Cubitt Arts, and works with schools as an artist educator at Bow Arts. Additionally, she is an associate lecturer at the Royal College of Art and teaches Art History at Morley College, Lambeth.
