About Mary Whitehouse

Mary Whitehouse is an emerging textile artist living in York. She is currently studying for a BA in Textiles Practice at Bradford School of Art. She uses discarded materials to create pieces of work that challenge people to consider issues of social justice.

Mary is an activist, seeking to raise issues of social justice through textile art by giving a voice to those who suffer injustices, and speaking truth to power through her work.

With an interest in the history of patchwork and quilting as the background for her textile art, recent works have taken traditional techniques and designs and subverted them to make people look twice. She combines repurposed textiles with newspaper to create pieces that have echoes of the comfort of a patchwork quilt, but also signify the urgency of the issues that face us today.

Alongside creating work that raise issues of social justice, Mary also works with community groups, including refugees and asylum seekers, using stitching as a tool for bringing people together.

Selected exhibitions

2026
Inside pages, OPO OPEN Exhibition Old Parcels Office Artspace, Scarborough

2025   
Displacement, Norman Rea Gallery, University of York

2025
Uprooted, Festival of Quilts, Birmingham

2024                                
There is a Better Way, Graduate Showcase, Festival of Quilts, Birmingham.
No One Should Die, International Women’s Day Exhibition, Trapezium Gallery, Bradford.
WasteAge Coat, OPO OPEN Exhibition Old Parcels Office Artspace, Scarborough

Competitions and Awards

2025     Uprooted accepted into the Quilt Collection of the Quilters’ Guild of Great Britain and Ireland

2023     Bradford Textile Society Competition, Commendation for the Clothworkers’ Company Award for a woven fabric design for interior furnishings or products.

2020     Festival of Quilts (online) #I’mInTheGuild, Shortlisted for the Quilters Guild Challenge

Press and Publications

New Acquisitions  in The Quilter Journal 185 Winter 2025

Art and Activism in  Collect Art Magazine  Vol 64 March 2025

There is a better way in Artists Responding To Issue 12 October 2024

WasteAge Coat – inspired by the Quilters’ Guild Collection article in Culcita issue 63, September 2022           

 

Lovely to be at the opening of the @oldparcelsofficeartspace Open yesterday. And great to find other artists using text in their work, including @ellie_clewlow_studio and @k.drakeart I’ve also included a photo of Ethel by @maryannstevensartis
Just delivered ‘Inside Pages’ to @oldparcelsofficeartspace for the Open Exhibition next month. This piece raises awareness of the many conflicts in the world that don’t even make the inside pages of many newspapers. Thanks to @guar
Chuffed to see my quilt, Uprooted, in the new edition of The Quilter from @thequiltersguild it has recently been accepted into The Quilt Collection alongside a quilt by the esteemed @sara.impey More about the quilt on my blog , link in bio. #activ
Thank you to @normanreagallery for hanging my work so beautifully. And thank you for inviting me to join the panel discussion this evening. #displacement #textileart #activistart
Just spent a lovely day with @_artiyya @bradfordschoolofart We learned about the importance exciting work Attiya has been up to since graduating. Then she lead us through the process of making our first collage self portraits. It was great to see
Just delivered these three pieces to the @normanreagallery @uniofyork for their next exhibition 'Displacement' which opens on 27th November and then is open weekdays 9.00 - 17.00. I shall be joining a panel discussion on Monday 1st December 18.30. At
Today is Armistice Day, when we should be thinking about disarmament and no more wars. Instead the headlines over the last week or so have been about the conflict in Sudan, leading to genocide. Who is supplying the arms? There is evidence that some o
Responding to headlines about increased flooding risks, followed by UN warnings about the failure to stem CO2 emissions. Social justice includes climate justice. So as COP30 looms on the calendar this is a call for @keirstarmer to act on is words an
Trying out more ways of stitching words on a banner. JUSTICE is the key word at the centre of my manifesto and so appropriate for this trial. Stitching from the back allows a thicker thread to be used. It also means you have to get used to mirror wr
Articles 19 and 20 of the International Declaration of Human Rights make it clear that the right to peaceful protest is a human right. This government is following the last one in making it more and more difficult for citizens to peacefully protest.
The government is trying to reduce migrant numbers to pander to the Far Right by making it difficult for the skilled workers we need to come here. The system will not survive without them - not just the NHS, agricultural workers, prisons ..... So the
First banner made and displayed at today’s York Unity Rally against racism and to show our support for refugees from n the City of Sanctuary. Great speakers, including @rachael_maskell , thoughtful as always. This is the first in what will be