YiMiao Shih was a resident member of Textiles Hub London in 2015. During this period she developed the distinctive artistic language that has since established her as one of the most original voices working between drawing, illustration and textiles, expanding the possibilities of embroidery as a contemporary artistic medium.
Born in Taiwan and now based in London, Shih approaches stitch as an act of drawing. Working with a domestic sewing machine alongside hand embroidery, she has developed what she describes as ’embroidery-drawing’—a unique visual language in which thread functions as line, repetition becomes mark-making and cloth operates as both surface and space. Through this innovative practice she dissolves traditional distinctions between illustration, textiles and fine art, creating richly layered works that are at once playful, poignant and politically engaged.
At the heart of Shih’s practice is a recurring rabbit-like figure that quietly navigates the complexities of contemporary life on her behalf. Through this deceptively playful protagonist she explores belonging, migration, political identity and the emotional structures that shape everyday experience. Humour, satire and tenderness coexist throughout her work, allowing complex subjects—including nationalism, borders, cultural identity and social change—to be approached with remarkable generosity and wit.
One of the defining bodies of work within her practice is Rabbrexit Means Rabbrexit, developed during her residency at the House of Illustration (now the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration). Created in response to Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, the series approaches Brexit not simply as political commentary but as an attempt by a Taiwanese artist living in London to understand a nation renegotiating its own identity. Through embroidery, Shih transformed one of the defining political events of contemporary Britain into a quietly observational narrative, documenting uncertainty, humour and contradiction through the repeated journeys of her rabbit protagonists.
In this sense, her work belongs to a much longer textile tradition in which cloth becomes a carrier of collective memory and social history. Like earlier narrative textiles—from medieval embroideries to the Bayeux Tapestry—Shih demonstrates that stitch can record the defining events of an age while remaining deeply personal in its perspective. Rather than illustrating history after the event, she documents history as it unfolds, creating embroidered narratives that are simultaneously intimate, political and profoundly human.
Following her MA in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, Shih rapidly established an international exhibition profile. Her work was selected by Grayson Perry for the 250th Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, before leading to a six-month residency and solo exhibition, Rabbrexit Means Rabbrexit, at the House of Illustration. Since then she has continued to expand her practice through solo exhibitions including Surface Value (2024) and Pocket Fever(2025), while exhibiting at Collect at Somerset House, Paul Smith Albemarle Street, Koppel X Gallery, Saatchi Gallery, the London Transport Museum, the Mall Galleries, and internationally in South Korea, Italy, Taiwan and the United States. Recent residencies at 1B Window Gallery in London and Siliano Alto in Italy have further extended her investigation into the relationship between stitched images, sculptural forms and architectural space.
Alongside her artistic practice, Shih has become an influential educator. She is an Associate Lecturer in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, a Lecturer on the MA Illustration and Visual Media course at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London, an advisor to the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, and has received a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) award from Arts Council England, recognising the continuing development of her research-led practice.
YiMiao Shih’s career exemplifies Textiles Hub London’s commitment to supporting artists who expand both the material and intellectual boundaries of textiles. Her work demonstrates that embroidery can function simultaneously as drawing, political reflection and documentary, revealing textiles not simply as objects of making but as powerful witnesses to contemporary society. Through humour, empathy and extraordinary technical invention, she has developed one of the most distinctive narrative voices in contemporary textile practice.
Further information: https://www.yimiaoshih.com
