Silk Museum by Cathy Williams

'Forward / Looking Back' is a diptych responding to The Fabric of Life, exploring the fragility and persistence of identity over time. Each woman, rendered in mixed media with gold leaf, appears to emerge from—or dissolve into—a layered and dated wall-paper-like background evoking an essence of faded damask silk. One figure gazes directly ahead, timeless and composed; the other figure, with a more contemporary edge glances back over her shoulder. Though stylistically distinct, their startling blue eyes connect them across eras. Caught between presence and absence, past and present, they embody the layered, woven nature of memory—fragile yet enduring, like the silk threads of Macclesfield’s heritage.