Newcastle: New installation and performance by Romany artist Delaine Le Bas
+Fabricating My Own Myth – Red Threads & Silver Needles
31st May – 2nd August
Newcastle Contemporary Art
Highbridge Works
39 High Bridge
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 1EW
Step into a world where myth, memory, and material collide. Newcastle Contemporary Art proudly presents Fabricating +My Own Myth – Red Threads & Silver Needles, an exhibition by artist Delaine Le Bas, who continues her exploration of linguistics, mythology, and Gypsy Roma Traveller narratives through the tactile power of textiles, language, and storytelling.
Unfolding as a monumental installation that spills across NCA’s two vast gallery spaces and beyond, Le Bas’ work transforms the building into a living, breathing tapestry of interconnected stories. Created during her month-long residency at Newcastle Contemporary Art this spring, the exhibition weaves together new works, culminating in an immersive environment where fabric and thread become instruments of rebellion, resistance, and revelation.
At the heart of +Fabricating My Own Myth is a provocation: what is truth, and who gets to tell it? The title itself plays on the double meaning of fabrication—both an act of making and an invention that challenges dominant narratives. For Le Bas, stitch is subversive and a medium for ‘embroidering’ truth, sewing ideas and creating physical connection.
A red thread—rich with symbolism across Roma, Japanese, and Ancient Greek mythology—runs like a pulse through the exhibition, linking both gallery spaces while serving as a metaphor for fate, connection, and defiance. Holding this thread in place are silver needles—both functional tools and potent symbols—brought to life in the form of two giant sculptural needles that will take centre stage in Le Bas’ accompanying performance work.
Public participation is also central to the work, with visitors invited to sew and add their own stitches to this evolving narrative throughout the duration of the exhibition. By engaging in this act of making, which will also include working with musicians in the space, the exhibition will blur the line between artist and audience, as well as individual and collective memory.
Performance is central to the work of Le Bas, providing a living space to express ideas with spontaneity whilst also exploring her deep interest in music and costume. A series of public performances by Le Bas with long-time collaborator Hḗrā Santos have been created to activate extensive gallery spaces of Newcastle Contemporary Art and extend Le Bas themes of duality and stories at the heart of +Fabricating My Own Myth – Red Threads & Silver Needles.
Performance: Speak the Truth,
Saturday 17th May, 8 pm
Friday 30th May, 7 pm
Speak The Truth is a new performance work with roots in Le Bas’s earlier works “Zigeuner Sauce” and “Beware Of Linguistic Engineering,” previously performed in London and Berlin. The title draws from a saying of Le Bas’s Nan (1927–2022), whose words—much like the ancient Sybil of Delphi—echo beyond death, travelling across time, and often not always what the recipient wanted to hear.
NCA press release/TT News
(Photographs courtesy of NCA)