
The Nettle Dress
Eden Court, Inverness;
Garnethill Multicultural Centre, Glasgow
UK, 2023
Dir. Dylan Howitt
68min
English
Textile artist Allan Brown finds a way through grief by locally foraging for nettle, processing the fibres, hand-spinning and weaving them, and then cutting and sewing the coarse fabric into a dress. This seven-year project, poignantly documented through Dylan Howitt’s lens, enables Brown to find solace in the changing seasons, to slow down his mind through the repetitive and embodied nature of craftsmanship, and to ‘change something ugly and painful into something beautiful and protective.’ A labour of love, The Nettle Dress reminds us that a return to slow methods of production and reconnection to nature can be healing for both the planet and humans alike.
Screenings
Inverness
Saturday 27 September, 18:00
Eden Court
With closed captions.
Glasgow
Saturday 18 October, 19:00
Garnethill Multicultural Centre
Free screening, with closed captions.
Allan Brown
Allan is an artist living and working in Brighton, East Sussex. He works with sustainable fibres like nettles, flax, hemp and wool as well as using foraged and allotment grown dye plants.
Taking these raw materials he slowly transforms them into beautiful cloth with the aim of creating functional, durable clothing that draws lightly from the land, reflecting the fibres and colours of the landscape he lives and works in.