Tangled

Tangled: a mixed media exhibition from mother and daughter Emma Shankland and Alba Shankland Ameti explores growing up—and growing into yourself—when life feels unclear and unstable. It sees time and ageing not as neat milestones, but as a messy process of change, confusion, and becoming, shaped by judgement, pressure, and the search for identity.

At the core of Tangled is self-perception: overthinking, fear, dependence, and the struggle of trying to understand your own mind without being shown how. Through lived experiences of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and AuDHD, the artist’s work captures the feeling of constant mental noise—racing thoughts, emotional overload, and being out of sync while craving clarity.

The artworks in Tangled combine embroidery (Emma) and scenic art (Alba) to explore memory, time, and shared history. A dark, natural colour palette of browns, blacks, tans, greys, and muted orange tones reinforces themes of ageing, memory, and lived experience.

Tangled creates space for people who feel like they’re hiding, masking, or bracing themselves for the world. Open and welcoming—especially to a teenage and young adult audience—it invites visitors to slow down, reflect, and engage without pressure.

Intentionally open to interpretation, the work encourages people to see their own experiences reflected back to them. It can feel grounding, uncomfortable, emotional, or quietly healing—every response is valid.

ALBA SAYS:
“On a personal level, the work reflects my own journey. How mental health, lived experiences, and the way my brain works have shaped and confused my sense of self. By turning that confusion into understanding and self-awareness, the exhibition is also about acceptance—of myself, and of others too.

Woven throughout is my relationship with my mother. Through my own interpretation of my mum’s artworks, I explore how identity is shaped across generations. How care, influence, and shared experience blur together over time. I am trying to understand myself and slowly let go of the hate, fear, and confusion I’ve carried about who I am and how I exist in the world.

Growing up, so many of us spend years either searching for ourselves or not even realising we’ve lost touch with who we are. Our teenage years are full of firsts, pressure, and sudden change. It’s easy for those experiences to distort how we see ourselves or how we think we should live. This work is about sharing how those moments confused me, the ways I tried to cope, and what it feels like to finally begin—just slightly—to understand myself.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ALBA SHANKLAND AMETI

Alba is a scenic artist who uses recycled and everyday materials such as ash and spices. These are juxtaposed with more traditional art supplies including acrylics and spray paint. Alba uses layering, blending and lets the materials do what they like. Creating natural textures means her work does not look man made but is organic and random in its feel. The materials she works with age and decay naturally giving a sense of realism.

She enjoys working simply, making something look natural out of very little and creating something completely unique with common media. Environmental considerations are at the forefront of the artist’s decision making as she feels there is a lot of waste within the set building world.

Through her practice Alba draws from lived experience of being a woman, her relationship with her parents and PTSD. Her work explores themes of mental health, development and uncovering who you are as a process of ageing. It is all about healing and relating natural occurrences to one’s own experiences.

Through her honesty and openness, Alba allows others to think about their own journey in getting to know themselves. She hopes to create a change in the lack of self awareness in the world.

EMMA SHANKLAND

Emma’s detailed hand embroidered pieces combine story-telling with the celebration of stitch, drawing a narrative into a physical landscape. She builds layered textures with fabric and common sewing thread and is increasingly incorporating a 3D element into her work. Combining sculpture, fantasy and fragments of memory to draw the viewer in, her pieces allow for multiple interpretations. Fabric is the ground and thread the narrator’s pathway.

In her day job Emma is a traditional banner-maker and community engagement lead for Durham Bannermakers who create modern twists on a traditional art form. Their large-scale banners have been shown in the British Textiles Biennial and are frequently seen on demonstrations throughout the Country.

In contrast to the banner’s she creates, Emma’s embroidery has a deliberate ambiguity that encourages different viewpoints and interpretations. The two outlets enable her to express in extremely different ways without blurring the integrity of either one.