Frances Goodman

Introducing

A new quilt series by Frances Goodman

Frances Goodman is an interdisciplinary artist based in Johannesburg who works with materials linked to fashion and the beauty industry, which includes acrylic nails, false eyelashes, sequins, and needlework. Her work explores femininity, identity, and self-presentation in both social and virtual spaces. Through glossy, sensual sculptures and installations, she examines beauty ideals, consumer culture, and the commodification of identity. A key aspect of her practice is the contrast between urgent contemporary themes and slow, repetitive crafting processes that encourage deeper reflection.

”I am currently working to push the sculptural potential of quilting further by scaling the works, exploring more complex forms, and testing how softness, surface, and stitch can produce convincing illusions of weight, volume, and material density. I am particularly interested in continuing to work with overlooked or discarded textiles, transforming them into objects that hover between deceptive visual illusion and fragile textile construction. Through this process, I hope to develop a richer visual language that both honours inherited craft techniques and destabilises their traditional associations with care, memory, and domesticity.”

SPECTA will be showing a new exhibition by Frances Goodman featuring works by the new quilt series in August 2026

TBC, 2025, installation view

”I began developing quilt-based works at the end of last year, in which the quilt is reimagined as a sculptural language rather than a domestic covering. Drawing on techniques learned from a master quilter, I approach stitching as a method of constructing illusion. Working from enlarged fragments of everyday objects, most recently the popped blister pack of a pill packet, I isolate forms and translate them into pieced fabric components. Cut from discarded costume materials and assembled through meticulous stitching, these fragments resolve into hyperreal objectsthat oscillate between solidity and fragility. At a distance, the works read as material optical illusions; up close, their seams, frayed edges, and labour-intensive construction reveal a delicate material truth.”

(Frances Goodman, March 2026)

Frances Goodman
Pill Popper II, 2026
Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
158 x 74 x 2 cm

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Frances Goodman
TBC, 2025.
Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric
167,5 x 67 x 1 cm

Frances Goodman
Popped Pill Popper, 2025.
Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, batting and plastic
145 x 95 x 3 cm

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Frances Goodman working on her quilts at her NIROX art residency

Frances Goodman
Quilt TBC, 2025
Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
158 x 75 cm

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(Frances Goodman, March 2026)

TBC, 2025, detail

Popped Pill Popper, 2025, installation view

Popped Pill Popper, 2025, detail

Feel Better I, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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Feel Better II, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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Feel Better III, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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Feel Better IV, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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Feel Better V, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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Feel Better VI, 2026

Hand-quilted and appliquéd fabric, thread, batting and plastic
61 x 72 x 2 cm

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