Toni Buckby is a contemporary artist specialising in fine hand embroidery. Her work explores ideas of skilled craftsmanship, the value of labour, the visibility of authorship, and the creation and accessibility of practical knowledge. Currently, Toni is pursuing a Ph.D. at Sheffield Hallam University in collaboration with the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Her research focuses on the collection of 16th-century blackwork embroideries housed at the V&A. Through her research, Toni has been exploring themes of decay, loss, fragility, and reconstruction both within and beyond the museum's archives. She aims to understand how contemporary art practice can be used to investigate, reconstruct, interpret, and present fragile and inaccessible embroideries.

In this talk Toni will present an overview of historic blackwork embroidery and a selection of pieces from her studio research practice including “an unstitched coif…”, a collective embroidery project undertaken by over 70 needleworkers in 2023.

Website: https://tonibuckby.com

Research Website: http://blackworkembroidery.org