Susie Freeman

"My activity as an artist can be described as that of trapping tiny objects in a delicate web of filament. Similarly, recent work considers how throughout our lives we collect and throw away, select and discard, objects which we feel are important or irrelevant. We keep things we feel say something about us, either because they change with the passing of time, or remain the same. My fabrics can present hundreds of objects in a single piece or focus on a small selection, making it possible to show similarities, contrasts, histories and developments.

"I often work collaboratively with a family doctor Liz Lee and we are joined for large scale commissions by artist David Critchley. Calling ourselves Pharmacopoeia we make artworks which illustrate medical issues. We are best known for Cradle to Grave, commissioned by The British Museum and currently on display in the museum’s Living and Dying exhibition. It has three linked narratives; a ‘pill’ diary, objects, and personal photographs. The pocket knitted pill diary incorporates all the estimated prescription drugs an average man and woman might take in a lifetime for common illnesses."

Susie Freeman studied at Manchester School of Art and the Royal College of Art, London.

Exhibitions

2023
Pocket Books, Black Gull Bookshop, Set Leonards on Sea
70 Trees, Rowley Gallery, London
2022
Women At The Heart of General Practice (online exhibition), RCGP
2021
Amazing Women, City of Culture, Coventry 21 City Centre
2020
WOWI+ (touring retrospective), Ruthin Crafts Centre, North Wales
2019
WOWI (What Once Was Imagined), Royal College of General Practitioners, London
Criminal Ornamentation, selected by Yinka Shonibare, Arts Council Collection touring exhibition, RAMM Exeter, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Southampton Art Gallery
2018
WOWI (What Once Was Imagined), Royal College of General Practitioners, London
Criminal Ornamentation, selected by Yinka Shonibare, Arts Council Collection touring exhibition, Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
2017
Making Space for Hope, Rowley Gallery, London
Freeman & Lee, CBG Medicines Evaluation Board, Utrecht
2016
Yeheye Beseder, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
2015
INVENTO, São Paulo, Brazil
Homomedicus, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Knit, Cartwright Hall, Bradford
Transformations & Resolutions, CAA at Circus, London
2014
Armour & Jubilee, Royal College of GPs, London
FAT, Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
2013
Femme Vitale, Medical Museion, Copenhagen
Subversive Design, Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
Pillen en Poeders, Boerhaave Museum, Leiden
Compass, Art@42, London
2012
Niet Normaal, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
Love, Vitrine Exhibition, V&V Galerie, Vienna
Target The Heart, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
40/40, Crafts Council, Online Exhibition
2011
Daglig Dosis, KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad
Primary Structures, San José Museum of Textiles, California
Nicht Normaal, The Kleisthaus, Berlin
Girls Behind Bars, Together Our Space, London
A Unique Proposal, Contemporary Applied Arts, London
2010
Unpack London, Shanghai Expo
Green Attitude, Sanlitun Village & Zhongguancun, China
Niet Normaal, Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam
2009
Medicine & Art, Mori Museum, Tokyo
Infectious, Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
2008
Fashion Art, World Trade Centre, Beijing
Pills, Science Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin
2007
Medical Mesh, Bergen Museum of Decorative Arts
Schmerz, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum, Berlin
2006
A N Other, Pentonville Prison Chapel, London
The John Charnley Trust, Wrightson Hospital, Wigan
2005
Artwear, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
ARTAID Crusaid, Royal College of Art, London
2004
Female Pharmacopoeia, Gimpel Fils, London
Lies Lust Art & Fashion, Podewil, Berlin

Collections

Medical Museion, Copenhagen
Royal College of General Practioners
Victoria & Albert Museum
The Wellcome Trust
The British Museum
Geffrye Museum
Crafts Council
Whitworth Art Gallery
Kwangju Textile Museum
Bergen Decorative Arts Museum