I tried to develop a distinctive approach through experimentation and independent research. My work is based on curiosity, perseverance and a deep commitment to low-impact manufacturing. I work exclusively with vintage fabrics and surplus yarns, embracing the limitations and history of these materials as an integral part of her work.
Bec Kirby (b.1992) is a British artist based in Manchester, working across painting and textile. Her practice is shaped by personal experience and the environments she inhabits, grounded in an attention to light, atmosphere, and the material presence of the built environment. Kirby’s work draws on the shifting conditions of the North of England, the way surfaces absorb moisture, dull, or sharpen in changing weather, alongside references to post-war architecture and interiors. These spatial systems are translated into the compositional structures of her work. Fleeting observations, the mood of a surrounding landscape, or the way forms sit together in nature, act as points of departure. Using dead-stock and surplus textiles sourced locally and through travel, she subjects materials to meticulous processes, brushing, breaking down fibres, and reworking surfaces to push them beyond their expected function. Through repetition and reconfiguration, each work emerges as a record of its own making, shaped by the behaviour of the material itself.
