Outer Space: Subversive Threads by Rae Haynes

Outer Space rounds out its 2025 main gallery program with Subversive Threads, a solo exhibition by Meanjin/Brisbane artist and educator Rae Haynes. Known for a practice that draws on feminist archives, collective agency and care ethics, Rae Haynes works across text, textiles and installation to examine how language and gender are shaped and understood.

The exhibition takes inspiration from Rozsika Parker’s influential book The Subversive Stitch (1984), tracing the radical histories of embroidery as both personal record and political tool. Embroidery becomes a way to stitch past and present together for Rae Haynes. Through genealogical research, they have uncovered ties to Mary Linwood, the pioneering 18th-century textile artist celebrated for her ‘needle painting’ technique, alongside connections to ancestors Claudia and Ada Hull, who founded Linwood College (named in honour of Mary Linwood) in the 1890s.

Drawing on feminist, genderqueer and decolonial approaches, Rae Haynes unravels these familial and creative legacies through archival investigation, auto-theoretical storytelling and hands-on workshops. The body of work in Subversive Threads has been shaped by rigorous research at leading UK institutions and refined though specialist training at the Royal School of Needlework.

Subversive Threads will be unveiled for the first time at opening night event on Friday October 17 from 6:00–9:00 pm, with free entry for all.