Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art, at the Barbican is a vast exploration of the work of over fifty key international artists. It explored themes of race, gender and the environment through intimate small scale pieces to monumental large-scale sculptures.

Artists included Judy Chicago, Tracey Emin and Faith Ringgold, and students will use this as a starting point for their personal investigation projects.

In the afternoon, we travelled to the Fashion Textiles Museum. It was the opening day of the Biba Story, a celebration of the work of Barbara Hulanicki, designer and owner of the groundbreaking British fashion brand. Students were able to explore the work and the history of Biba, the impact on fashion retailing and how it reflected the mood and politics of the late sixties and early seventies.