Rosalind Wyatt: The Stitch Lives of Others

Wyatt's works, The Stitch Lives of Others, parts 1, 2, and 3, are part of a group show at the John Martin Gallery in Mayfair, London, running throughout April. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt's work, collages in mixed textiles and calligraphy, tells the story of her husband's ancestors, the Tuke family. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Extracts from family letters and journals - passed down through the generations - are stitched into the pieces. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt's first piece in the show includes extracts from the letters and journals of Daniel Hack Tuke recounting his honeymoon tour of Europe's asylums in 1851. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

He was one of three generations of the Quaker Tuke family who transformed the treatment of the mentally ill. They urged a commitment to attempting to cure mental distress, rather than locking up the mentally ill. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

This part of the Tukes' story is told on an 18th century silk bodice, passed down through the family. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt's second piece in the show is an early 20th century hakama, or two-piece kimono, which includes extracts from the love letters written by Japanese playwright Torahiko Kori to Hester Sainsbury (Wyatt's husband's grandmother). Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

In the pleats and folds of the garment, Wyatt has stitched extracts from the letters, Japanese calligraphy, a Swiss landscape and Kori's passport stamps. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

The piece also includes a red handkerchief that once belonged to Sainsbury. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

The relationship between Sainsbury and Kori lasted from 1917 until Kori's death - to tuberculosis - in 1926. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt's third piece in the show is a 1930s silk-lined child's jacket made by Hester Sainsbury for her daughter, Susan - Wyatt's mother-in-law. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt has decorated the jacket with Susan's early drawings and childhood experiences, as well as family members' school name tags. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

Wyatt graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2001 with an MA in mixed media constructed textiles and built on her BA in calligraphy and bookbinding by learning Zen calligraphy with lay monks in Tokyo. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR

She is to lead two workshops in textile arts at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in July and will also be exhibiting work in an international art exhibition in Kobe, Japan, in the autumn. Photograph: Matt Pia/PR