In Dirty Drapes, I take the structure of a homophobic joke and stitch it into filet crochet, a technique often associated with domestic interiors and intergenerational craft. I am interested in the collision between crude language and a form of making tied to comfort and respectability. The drape format is intentional. Drapes regulate privacy and visibility, marking a boundary between what is public and what remains concealed. Installed as two panels, they hang like parted curtains, presenting language that typically circulates in private, male dominated spaces rather than in formal exhibition contexts. The work examines how sexuality is unevenly managed under patriarchy. Gay men are often reduced to spectacle and excess, while aging women’s sexuality is contained within domestic roles and rendered culturally invisible. By placing a slur within a feminized craft tradition, I shift its context and expose the social structures that allow such language to persist.
James Fowler, DIRTY DRAPES (How do you make a f*****t scream twice), , fillet crochet, medium worsted yarn, 91.4 × 106.7 cm (36 x 42 in), 2025.
Member since: 2023
Number of exhibitions at the gallery: 1
Tell us a story about Red Head: Red Head Gallery, for me, does not exist as a series of single spectacular exhibitions, but as a sequence of smaller scenes that, woven together, feel like a beautiful shared life. Our monthly Zoom meetings sometimes feel a bit like Hollywood Squares, where each member’s face is lit by a different lamp in a different space, yet there are always familiar objects any artist would notice. During these meetings, someone is always working away on a project while budgets and schedules are being discussed. It’s comforting to see that we all have full lives outside our little boxes on the screen—someone’s partner passes by in the background, or someone’s cat decides it’s time to show off its butt. There have been long Nuit Blanche nights when we stayed awake together, fuelled by caffeine and the thrill of making art in real time in front of Toronto’s art lovers. We have piled into cars for field trips, crossing borders to see exhibitions that rearranged our thinking. We have packed art into suitcases and sent it across oceans, believing culture travels best when delivered by hand. In the shared effort of maintaining this space, I feel a sense of belonging. And then there are the potlucks. Bowls of salad and plates of cake, and bottles of wine, spread across our folding table and side benches, and our conversations become less about shipping invoices and more about our families, our friendships, our favourite things, and our ideas. In these moments, the gallery feels less like a space and more like a shared promise we’ve made to each other and to a community we love.
James Fowler is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist, curator, and community organizer. His work spans painting, textile, and sculpture, exploring queer cartography, ecology, and the politics of belonging. A member of Red Head Gallery and co-founder of the Throbbing Rose Collective, he produces projects such as Nuit Rose and Queer Up North, building platforms for experimental and community-engaged art.
