Spotlight on Soft Power artist Kani Kamil

Our current exhibition, Soft Power: Lives told through textile art, features work by 26 contemporary and historic artists who all use textile art as a way to tell stories and communicate life’s journey.

We asked Soft Power artist, Kani Kamil, to tell us more about her pieces and the role of 'community' within her work:

💬 Community, for me, starts with the stories of Kurdish women; they’re at the centre of everything I do. My work is about preserving memories that have been silenced or forgotten, and finding ways to share them through re-archiving, textiles, and using my own body in performance. It’s my way of honouring those voices and making sure they’re not lost.

💬 I see my practice as a bridge between the past and the present, between the unheard and the visible. I want people who experience my work to not just observe, but to feel something, to ask questions, and maybe even be moved to learn more about the stories that haven’t been told. That’s where I think a real sense of community starts, when people feel connected through shared stories, even across distance or difference.

💬 The piece about my Nana is really close to my heart. She was a talented stitcher who dreamed of being a poet but wasn’t allowed that space because of her gender. Through her handmade textiles, especially her colourful pot holders, she found her own creative language. That video honours her quiet genius and all the unseen women behind textile work in Kurdistan.

My other piece, (Bn), speaks more broadly about how women's bodies are policed and marked, while men remain untouched by these expectations. It’s about reclaiming power, breaking silence, and turning a tool of shame into a form of expression and resistance.

💬 Textiles have always been part of my life. My mother, grandmother, and aunt all worked with fabric, so it feels natural to use it in my art. I work with materials like linen and hair to tell untold stories, especially those of Kurdish women. These materials carry memory, intimacy, and resistance.

💬 Meeting the wonderful Alice Kettle in 2018 had a huge impact on how I approach textiles as an artist. Her mentorship and her own way of using stitch as language inspired me to push textiles further in my work, especially in printing and layering narratives into fabric. That influence helped me see textiles not only as a craft but as a powerful artistic and political tool for storytelling.

 📆 Explore Soft Power until 10 Aug

Kani Kamil is a visual artist, and performer of experimental sound with hair. Born and raised in Iraq, currently lives and works in London.